Family Reunion
by The Cosmic Penguin
Summary: What makes a family a, well...family? Why do people who are related care about each other so much? After being invited to a family party, Meta Knight is determined to answer those questions...although, with his friends and certain other quirky characters mixed in, that answer may be harder to find than he assumed...
1. Introduction

**(Now with a cover by Metanaito-kyou! Thank you so much, Meta!)**

 **Quick Note if you haven't read much of my recent work: Since Meta Knight is not employed by Dedede in the game verse, my headcanon for his/his crew's funding is that they make their money from his skills with technology, like doing programming jobs and designing/repairing/modifying machines. Not too important plot-wise, but some of his vocabulary, thoughts, and decisions throughout the story might be confusing without a mention of it. Anyway, Onward!**

* * *

 _Checklist: (Dates)_

 _T-GEY Project C++/MATLAB joint—9/7_

 _Check SD's project—finalize by 10/15?_

 _Pull buoy and return to SCiO Co. at end of October_

 ** _LABVIEW I/O (BREAD BOARD) DUE 10/18_** _**-**_

 _Rare amiibo get—A-Game **THIS MONTH**_

 _Repair Engine No. 2_

 _Check Engine No. 5_

 _Other:_

 _Special cake for SP_

 _Attend Bandana Dee's family gathering, 9/5-9/18_

* * *

 _A lot of good this list is going to do for me in a village full of Waddle Dees with minimal electrical consumption—if they even keep many electrical devices around **at all**. I hope they don't mind—although, Bandana Dee plays video games, so there are hopefully no customs about technology._

Once upon a time, Meta Knight agreed to attend Bandana Dee's yearly family reunion…or at least, _halfway_ 'family reunion'; all the Dees lived in the same place, so it was more of an annual party than a 'reunion'. He had not been slow to point this out, though his friends had complained that he was being too picky with wording. Not that he particularly cared _—_ Meta Knight preferred things be as _accurate_ as possible, _whenever_ possible. It saved hours of time and much hard labor in his detail-oriented technical jobs, but for his friends, technicalities were of little use to them. And quite possibly detailed planning.

The sapphire puffball had a small pile of his belongings to take with him to Bandana Dee's family reu— _family party_. The first was Galaxia. Galaxia went everywhere with him. The second was a sack of spare swords in case he and Kirby got into an argument (again) over something offensive to puffballs, like who was allowed to deal with the king, and who got to eat first at meals. Being an honorable puffball was always a top priority and all honorable puffballs resolved their disputes with sword fights.

But did his hosts? Most Waddle Dees lived in 'neighborhoods' of sorts, though they called their groups 'tribes' for tradition's sake. As Waddle Dees were the dominant species on Popstar, these tribes could be a few hundred Dees large, though their sizes varied drastically from tribe to tribe. Their rules and fur contrast varied, too; some of them wandered, some of them stayed put…but for the most part, they were all still Waddle Dees. Meta Knight liked Waddle Dees. Waddle Dees had always been kind to him; he knew they wouldn't betray him. Unless they were possessed, or something of similar nature.

…Problem was, he'd never actually seen a proper Waddle Dee tribe. Sailor Dee was from a family of Dees that lived in a town with various other creatures of Popstar, and this was the first time Bandana Dee had invited him to see his family. And while Meta Knight had done odd jobs for Waddle Dees or just helped them out along the way, he'd never stayed with them for more than a night or two. He wasn't sure of their customs, and he really wished he knew more about them. For example, knowing whether flashy, electric gear would offend them would be very useful.

Should he wear his regular armor? Most Dees only wore headgear, if anything at all...so was dressing up considered offensive? He should have asked Bandana Dee, but it hadn't been on his mind.

 _But these safety goggles..._ Meta Knight could help letting a huge smile slip across his face upon picking up his latest piece of gear. _After spending half a fortune on them, it would be so wonderful to test them out, and the face guards on them are so convenient and light. Not to mention the energy detector, infrared sensors, internet and wireless connectivity, multicolored lights—and they're on the same grade metal as Haltonium, not to mention the ability to track your eye movement and directly relate it to_ _—_

"You're trading in your mask for _glasses?_ How much did _that_ cost you, Meta?"

The sapphire puffball almost jumped in fright upon being caught, but fortunately, the Dee at the door was familiar to him. "That's classified information, Bandana. I spent a paycheck on these, and I'm under oath not to reveal anything about the job."

"You spent a _paycheck_ on a single pair of glasses?" Bandana Dee repeated incredulously. "Are you out of your mind, Meta? I knew the metal for your equipment was expensive, but paying so much money for some glass is insane!"

"It's not mere glass, Bandana." Meta Knight grinned, sliding the goggles over his head and pressing one of the many buttons on the side of them. Some thin _—_ but definitely sturdy-looking—metal folded down over the puff's cheeks from the sides of the device. "It's a special type of rare, fortified metal as the frame, and the 'glass' is actually a type of clear crystal fragment that's nearly impossible to shatter, therefore making this safer for repairs and shop work than my actual armor. Not even mentioning its immense library of technological functions that I can add on to, reprogram, and generally modify to my every preference."

Bandana Dee wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Besides..." The puff's grin wavered a bit, his expression growing slightly uncertain. "...they...do look cool and advanced, don't they?"

 _Please confirm that, after I spent all this money on them_ _—_

"Well, yeah, they do, but...Meta, I would never pay so much for them!" Bandana Dee protested.

"I've not even told you what I spent for them. Classified, remember?"

"But I know you, Meta..." the Dee sighed. "You'll spend anything on cool gear and flashy electronics. They cost a small fortune, didn't they?"

Meta Knight crawled onto his bed, sweeping his cape over his belongings for the trip. This included a highly-sophisticated scientific calculator, some loose paper and pens, some video games, a folder labelled 'CG-#3801', a few other electronic gadgets, and a large electrical supply. "Bandana, quality is more important than quantity, and I only want one pair of goggles. Not even mentioning that most other electronic pairs wouldn't fit with my hats and headphones. I had no choice."

The sapphire puffball was having some difficulty fitting the electrical supply into his cape. It wasn't as large as a generator, but it was still bigger than his cape and thus, likely impossible to transport with it.

"Ummm…Meta, we do have our own electrical batteries." Bandana Dee scuffled his feet awkwardly, watching the knight try to manipulate his cape into the right position. "You, uh…don't have to bring your own battery, you know. We mostly use our tents when we have our parties like this, but my parents do have a house. We just put out the tents because it's fun to camp."

Meta Knight fidgeted with his safety goggles. His species' large eyes had been a huge problem while searching; the glass covered half of his face because of this. Like most of Meta Knight's equipment, it was something that most denizens of Dream Land would never consider wearing. Probably because they had shorter lifespans than him, so being permanently maimed, blinded, or otherwise injured for centuries wasn't something they had to consider when buying clothes. Yet another reason Meta Knight liked Waddle Dees—they lived to be about 200 on average. They were a little more cautious than the rest of Popstar.

"Should I leave it behind, then? I'm not familiar with your tribe, as you're aware."

"Of course, Meta. You can just use my parents' battery; they won't mind." Bandana Dee then produced a blue bandana similar to his. "But before we leave, do you have something to cover your head? We live by the beach, and it's sunny most of the day. You'll bake without something on your head"

Meta Knight was very glad that the Dee hadn't seen the humongous beanie cap he'd originally planned on bringing as a backup plan. Bandana Dee was truly the sanest and most normal-slash-reasonable out of the quartet and a small, lightweight bandana was infinitely more normal and reasonable than wearing a beanie cap solely to look intelligent. Nevertheless, he still pawed at his goggles again.

"It's…not offensive if I still wear these around your tribe, correct?" the puff asked, slightly uneasy. He didn't want to give up all his equipment. He was willing to trade his armor out for something else but it had to be a _trade_ , not a complete surrender of cool-looking gear.

Fortunately, Bandana Dee looked rather surprised. "Of course you can wear them, Meta! I mean, you'll probably get hot in them after a while, but then again, I'm not wearing your outfits… But yeah, we don't care! We don't hate you for looking different than us. You're actually not that different from us at all."

Meta Knight let out a quiet sigh of relief, which Bandana Dee barely picked up on. The puff leapt off his bed, secretly stowing Galaxia in the pocket dimension in his mouth. He didn't want Bandana Dee to know he was taking weaponry to his family party. That would only provoke a speech about how he was being too paranoid, and that no one would attack them, etc. It was a good thing he'd stored his armor in his cape, too. No need for Bandana Dee to see him bringing that, either, since he'd promised the Dee that he'd try his hardest to just relax and be himself. He didn't want to hurt the Dee's feelings by ignoring the request, but if he was going to bring a sharp weapon, he was going to bring equipment that would protect him from equally-as-sharp attacks from enemies.

…NOVA, he sounded paranoid…Rare space guardians shouldn't fret over everything.

"Thank you, Bandana…" The blue puff slipped off his bed, bouncing on the floor and strolling over to his friend. "I suppose I'll just wear these, and…" He kicked off his boots, stuffing them in his cape. It was a miracle he still had space left in it, but it had dimensional powers, after all. "…the bandana, if, you'd…Does your tribe wear them a certain way?"

"Sit down, Meta." Bandana Dee sounded rather amused. "But no, we don't have rules about how to wear _bandanas_. _"_

The sapphire puffball sat in silence as Bandana Dee adjusted his new hat for the week.

"Don't worry so much, Meta. We aren't going to kill you if you aren't like one of us, 'cause you aren't, so don't worry. Everyone will be really happy to see you."

Meta Knight blinked. "What sort of tales and stories have you told them about us?"

"Not much." Bandana Dee tugged on the fabric, trying to gather it into a knot. "Just that we've all saved Popstar together a few times. I figured Kirby and Great King would tell the rest, given the opportunity."

The puff felt his friend pat him where his shoulder would have been. He stood, preparing to follow Bandana Dee out to greet—

A familiar-looking penguin poked his head in the door, eyes lighting up when he saw the duo. "Heh-hey! Meta—whoa!"

"METAAAA!" Kirby shrieked, barreling through the door. Judging by the way he 'innocently' trampled on Dedede's feet, he was probably doing it just to irk the king. The pink puff slowed down considerably after he'd passed Dedede, smiling at his fellow puffball.

"Hey, Meta! You never told me when our next online video game playtime is. We all tried to call you but we couldn't get an answer."

Meta Knight blinked. "Oh. I…rarely use that phone. I should turn it on now that I've upgraded it, but I wanted to work out the errors—"

"You've had the stupid phone off for the past MONTH and you never thought to let us know?!" Dedede roared. "I thought you'd fallen off the face of the planet! You could've died in the wilderness and I'd never hear word of it until months later! I thought I bought you a portable phone charger for Christmas; where IS IT?!"

"Your Majesty, I've been busy with deadlines." Meta Knight started heading for the door, hoping to avoid the argument. "I haven't had time to reorganize everything, but I promise you that I'll manage the phone within this month. Now Kirby, where will you take off with the warpstar?"

Dedede gaped, watching as the puffballs strolled past him and out the door. Bandana Dee hesitated next to his king, unsure of what would happen next.

"I…META!" the king bellowed. "YOU ARE FIXING THAT PHONE BEFORE WE LEAVE! I **SWEAR** , Meta; if you walk out the door without turning that thing on, I'll harass you until you give up and think about that! Meta! Stupid PUFFBALLS!"

Meta Knight sighed, taking out his phone and powering it on as Kirby filled him in on the fishing cruise Bandana Dee had invited him on. Their king had paid for his best Dee to take a guest, but he hadn't been aware that it was Kirby, which only fueled the king's anger. As opposed to when Kirby first arrived, however, Dedede was more upset that he would have gone along and dragged Meta Knight too, so they could all fish together. Meta Knight was somewhat relieved about this, because he didn't like fishing. That was more of Kirby and Bandana Dee's thing.

"Kirby, if we're to arrive promptly, I'd suggest you take off from the center deck," the blue puffball advised. "Especially considering that we've never flown to this location before."

With that, Meta Knight did his best to try and move out to the deck in a hurry, hoping to land in the Dee village soon and learn how out-of-place he potentially was. Yes, Bandana Dee could assure him all night and day that he wasn't intruding on their customs, but…not knowing made him nervous. How could you prepare for something you knew nothing about?

 _Look at it this way, Meta—they're Waddle Dees. They're sane. It'll be a good chance for you to relax, and have two weeks away from work! What could go wrong in a village of normal people? You're overexaggerating._

He sighed softly as he climbed onto the warpstar, letting his wings and one of his feet trail in the open air. As the warpstar took off, he gazed at the landscapes as they flew over them, following Bandana Dee's directions.

 _At least,_ the puff noted, _it's much easier to see everything in these goggles than my normal mask. If there is anything positive that comes out of this expedition, at least that will be one thing._

"Ow!" the king complained. "Kirby, did you just kick me?"

"Hi!~" Kirby taunted, giving the king a candy-sweet smile. "Kirby!"

After calculating that they would not be landing within the next fifteen minutes, Meta Knight decided he wouldn't tell Dedede that yes, Kirby had indeed kicked him.

* * *

 **C/N: Aaaand welcome, to the beginning of a Kirby fanfic like no other!** ...Seriously, my stories don't reuse everybody else's common fanon. I prefer to pull off canon, even if it means nobody else is doing it...well, doing it _more than one decade-old way_ considering how open-ended the Kirby universe is when it comes to building motives and backstories.

This is an **edited version** and not the original post. As a matter of fact, everything outside Meta's To-Do list has been completely changed, so if you've stumbled upon this searching for another chapter you've already read...be on the lookout for future rewrites.

 **For the Anime Readers:** This is presumed gameverse, but if you choose to believe the anime happened beforehand, it fits well with the story. I usually wrote this way because I enjoyed making the best of both universes, but this _**is** going to focus more on gameverse events, and if canons contradict each other, the games are always the base._ PLEASE keep that in mind. The only events that follow from the anime are the (presumed since I don't really mention them) existence of the anime characters, the concept that there are star warriors of various species who fight Big Baddies every century or whenever they're reborn, and the fact that Nightmare is a Big (Huge) Baddie who was terrorizing the galaxy for years in the past. (As of now, I'm split as to whether I'll continue this, for multiple reasons that I might make a journal on if asked enough. We'll see.)


	2. Welcome Home, Bandana!

_If you're unfamiliar with story formatting_ , because I know some people are: **Italics are thoughts**. So if you see a line or few in italics, it's thought process. I love mind tapping.

* * *

 _I'm home. It's been a month or two, but I'm home._

Bandana Dee stared at the door handle to his family's little house. He could hear his father working around back, but he knew the rest of his family would be inside…Who should he greet first? He knew his mother would probably be fixing the house up, and he didn't want her to have to leave her work and come outside to say hello…Plus, Silva—

The wanderer lifted his paw to the door and knocked. "Mom? I-It's me, Taylor; I'm home…"

"BAN-DANA!"

Bandana Dee glanced up at the top of the house, inwardly grinning upon hearing the speaker's voice out the window. Before he could answer back, the door opened and he was pulled inside.

"Bandana!" The wanderer's mother had left her work and dashed up to her son, sweeping him into a hug which he gladly returned. "Taylor, my big boy! How have you been?"

Bandana Dee rubbed cheeks with her, happy at being home with his family again. "I've been great, mom! It's been a little tough at times, but all the adventures I've had in the world are fantastic! I—"

"Ban-dana! Ban-danaaaaaa!" a tiny voice squealed. "BAN-DANAAAAAA!"

Bandana Dee was released from one hug to be tackled into another. "S-Silva! Hey, how's it going?"

"Great, big brother!" Silva chirped. She was a few inches shorter than her brother, which was a somewhat significant amount considering how small most species of Popstar were. "I've been drawin' lots of stuff, and sketchin', and readin', and I know a lot about different critters now! Did you bring me any kinds of bats?"

"Uh…I'm sorry, Silva; I don't have any bats right now." He hated disappointing the hopeful little Dee, but he wasn't fond of catching bats. His spear would likely harm them more than Silva would help them, biology lover or not. "But hey, maybe I can get one for your eighth birthday this year. Does that sound good?"

"Awww, big brother…" Silva pouted. "That's such a long way off…"

"Silva, Bandana has brought some guests with him, and he hasn't said hello to Daddy yet…" The mother Dee patted the younger Dee on the head, and she slowly released her older brother. "Let him say hello to Daddy so he can show you the puffies like he promised, okay?"

Bandana Dee's eyes brightened. "Yeah! Okay, thanks mom!"

The wanderer dashed out toward the back of the house, clearly happier to be home than he'd thought originally. His mother was just as thrilled, but she didn't mind him not sticking around right now—after all, she had Silva to take care of—

"Mama, look!" Silva chirped. She had climbed up on the windowsill and was staring out at the visitors her brother had brought along. "Puffies! I thought they were only one color like we are, but they're not! That's so cool; where's my notebook, mama?!"

"Silva, please…" The mother Dee picked her up and hushed her. "Be polite. You may think that's cool, but I don't know whether they do. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

She immediately wondered whether she should have said that, but it was too late.

"Okay!" the Dee child shouted, racing out the door.

* * *

"I wonder what's taking Bandana Dee so long," Dedede complained.

"I'm hungry," Kirby added. "Are you sure I can't get some food?"

"Please stop, you two. It's probably only been a few minutes, and you want to rush Bandana Dee with his family?" Meta Knight tried desperately to calm the group down. "You don't know what he's doing; maybe—"

"PUFFIIIIIIIIES!"

Much to the puffballs' confusion, Dedede instantly retreated a few steps backward, covering as many of his feathers as possible.

"Friends! My big brother sent you, didn't he?!"

The puffballs' eyes flew up to the approaching Waddle Dee, wondering if this was the reception they would get from all the Dees. The little Dee dashed down the hill and skidded to a halt right before the puffballs, though she tripped from this sudden action. She instantly pushed herself back up, glancing at Kirby, and then Meta Knight, and then back to Kirby. Dedede raised an eyebrow as he pretended not to exist; Meta Knight attempted to say something to the Dee.

"Um…hi, there. Who might you be?"

The Dee's eyes lit up, and she flung herself onto the blue puffball. Meta Knight tried not to fall over as the Dee clung to him and introduced herself, while Kirby merely stared and Dedede backed up a few _more_ steps.

"I'm Silva! I'm Bandana Dee's bestest sibling, and I'm happy to meet you all! I'm happy to have you. Are you happy to be here?"

The little Dee glanced up at Meta Knight, who tried to smile despite the awkward situation. "Um, yes. I am...happy. How about you guys?"

He tried to turn towards Kirby or Dedede, hoping that the Dee would hug one of them instead. He wasn't used to physical contact with strangers, and he really wasn't sure whether he felt comfortable being hugged like… _this_ …

 _Where is Bandana when you **need him…**_

Dedede was currently hiding behind the side of Bandana Dee's house, snickering at Meta Knight's misfortune and completely ignoring the fact that he was within earshot of calling Bandana Dee over to them.

"You're so cute, blue puffy," Silva cooed, ignoring him and stroking his cape with her foot. "I wish _my_ blanky stuck to my back like that…"

Dedede was polite enough to conceal his snickering, though it didn't escape Meta Knight's notice as he was familiar with the king's various forms of laughter. And just because Dedede was hiding how hilarious he thought this was, it didn't mean that he wasn't taking it down as a mental note—which he actually was, at that moment. The penguin quickly began thinking up some lines he could use about 'security blankets', and almost started laughing. But doing so would reveal him to Silva, so that wasn't an option.

"And you're sooo soooft…" The Dee tried petting him, but promptly fell off. Maybe _this_ was why Dedede had backed up…Meta Knight felt like cursing upon thinking that. Yes, Dedede _had_ gone to visit Bandana Dee's family once before, and he'd said some strange things about it. Perhaps this was what he'd been talking about.

Then something seemed to click in Silva's mind, and she became a little apologetic. "Oh, but mommy said you might not think that's cool. I think it's cool; do you?"

Meta Knight tensed ever-so-slightly, and the little Dee seemed aware of this. The knight tried his best to make a split-second decision that he wouldn't regret. Unfortunately, fast decisions and non-regrettable ones rarely went together.

 _Don't offend your hosts. Don't disappoint the little kid. Disappointing little kids is a don't-do and it could offend your hosts. You don't know what you're supposed to say here without offending her so just be polite._

"I-I never seriously considered it before, but…" Meta Knight hesitated, but decided to go through with his thought. "I suppose it's pretty cool…"

The little Dee thought about this for a moment. Then she flung herself back onto the blue puffball, who tried not to flinch as much but failed from the rough tackle. Silva squealed in delight.

"You DO like me, blue puffy!" The Dee sounded so happy, and Meta Knight was a little glad that he'd made the choice he did. On the other hand, would she have been so clingy if he'd said no? Considering how she was acting, even that was a possibility… "Y'know, I wasn't sure about you 'cause you seemed a little scared of me, but I guess you're just different. Oooo, you're so _soft_ ; you don't feel anything like our fur…"

The sapphire puffball assumed he should take that as a compliment, but he was too busy glaring at Kirby and Dedede for making smug faces at him when Silva implied that he'd been _scared_ of her. Holy NOVA, she was rubbing cheeks with him…Cheek rubs were a sign of affection among Dees (and puffballs), so…what did _that_ mean?

"Oh…sure. Kirby feels similar, if you're bored of me," Meta Knight hinted, trying to persuade the little Dee off of him without being rude. Waddle Dee children weren't as tiny compared to babies and adults of other species; Silva was three-quarters of a normal Dee's size.

Unfortunately, despite her similarity in size to an adult, his hint completely flew over the child's head.

"I'd never get bored of a puffy! And I like blue. My brother wears a blue bandana and he's _really cool_ , so you must be almost as cool as he is!" She paused to glance quickly over to Kirby, looking a little guilty. "Um, you're still cool, pink puffy. I like pink, too! The frosting on my mama's cookies is pink, and she puts lots of frosting on them, and—" She suddenly thought to glance over at Kirby again, and double-took. "—hey, your eyes are blue! Whoa, cool…"

If the Dee had a mouth, she would have been gaping; blue eyes were relatively rare among Waddle Dees, as most of their eye colors were a shade of brown, yellow, or orange. As Silva analyzed Kirby's eyes, Meta Knight took a quick break to see what Dedede was doing.

The penguin was still hiding next to the house, trying his best not to move. Meta Knight suddenly remembered that Dedede had blue feathers and blue eyes as well, and wondered if he should call the king out to the little Dee child—

"And…blue puffy, what color are your eyes?"

All Meta Knight could do was blink at the abrupt turn of conversation, unsure of whether any reply would do any good at this point.

"Ah…huh?" The Dee narrowed her eyes, staring at him. "Um…uh…what color _are_ your eyes?"

"Well, mine are…white, or silver…" the blue puff answered hesitantly. Maybe if he answered enough of her questions, she'd leave him alone.

Apparently, Kirby did not share the same idea.

"Yeah, isn't it cool?" Kirby added. "I always thought it'd be just like in the stories, where the creatures with white eyes had special powers. I don't know what powers he has, though—at least, ones that are better than mine, heehee!"

Of course, this provoked Silva's eyes to grow wider and her to hug him again, squealing in delight.

 _Note to self: slap Kirby for that later. Not the insult; the prompt for the hug._

 ** _Whyyyyyyyyyy does he have to be so SOCIAL?! Kirbyyyy!_**

"Wow, puffy!" The Dee started rubbing cheeks with him. "You're so cool! You've got special powers and everything, and you're so cute…I don't know what could make you cooler, unless you had a pet bat! Mama says it's weird for people to have bats as pets, but I love bats and I think they're _cool_. Did you know that Berry Bats…"

While the Dee was still busy nuzzling him, Meta Knight managed to shoot a glance at Kirby.

 _No. **No** , Kirby. Don't you **dare** mention that I have bat wings, or I will give you a lecture in common sense and what I don't like for you to pull on me. I will—_

"Silva! What are you doing?"

 _Oh, **thank you…**_

A female Dee dashed down the slope towards her child, a worried expression on her face, and Dedede slowly tiptoed back around to the group from the side of the house. "Silva, what have I told you about climbing all over people you haven't met before? Most people might get scared or won't like it; how many times have I told you that? When I went to get your notebook, I thought you'd wait and behave yourself!"

"But mama," Silva whined as her mother carefully lifted her off the blue puffball. "He's blue; blue things are nice…and I only got to pet _him_ ; I didn't get to pet the pink one yet—!"

"Silva, I hope—"

"Don't worry." Meta Knight smiled awkwardly, nudging Kirby. The two puffballs bowed politely for the Dee they presumed to be Bandana Dee's mother. "She caused no harm."

"Are you her mom?" Kirby piped up, getting straight to the point that Meta Knight was waiting to phrase formally.

 _…thank you, Kirby. This is why nobody thinks that there's only a **six** month gap between our ages…_

It wasn't that he disliked Kirby; far from it. It was just that Meta Knight was used to hiding his thoughts and opinions, and Kirby—being more acclimated with socializing and talking to people he didn't know than the sapphire puffball—was more likely to state his outright, or take risks in conversations, which made Meta Knight somewhat uncomfortable…And he always worried whether Kirby, being popular enough, would simply replace him with someone better or more interesting, and his heart would break _like all those friends before—_

"Yes, I'm her mom. You can call me Leaf, if you'd like, and…who's Kirby, and who's Meta?" The Dee glanced between the two puffballs. "I'm assuming—"

 _"Kirby!"_ The pink puff shouted, jumping up and down. "Hiiiii!~ That's my favorite catchphrase, by the way, so I say it a lot. It's all Meta's fault—" He gestured toward the sapphire puffball, who blinked in surprise at the mention of his name. "—because he likes Pokémon, and they say their names all the time so it rubs off. I used to say 'Poyo' because it was a formal military greeting that my mom used when she was still around, and Meta and I both liked that, but then stupid Dedede had to ruin it just because it meant 'chicken' in some other language. Then Meta said not to say it anymore unless it was to each other, or another Piko—Pikonyan like us." Kirby glanced at the knight. "Uh, that _is_ what we're called, right Meta? 'Pikonyans'?"

The sapphire puffball—or, Pikonyan—merely nodded.

"So anyway, yeah, I'm Kirby! Star warrior, monster hunter, master angler, and hero of Dream Land! And also the Smash world. Dedede and Meta and I all helped save the Smash tournament from these weird shadow bugs and their master, so that was cool." Then he turned to Meta Knight, grinning. "And this is Meta, one of my best friends! I think he's my brother or something."

"I'm not actually your brother, Kirby; or at least, there's no proof of it," the blue puff murmured softly. "But thanks for the sentiment."

"Well, you do look similar enough…" Leaf began. "You know—"

"You could take DNA samples, puffies." Silva finally succeeded in pushing herself out of her mother's arms, picking her notebook off the ground and flipping through it. "If you give me a ride back to the house, I can—ooooooooooooh, mister penguin! You came back to me; how are you?!"

Dedede flinched as the little Dee launched herself onto him—well, launched herself onto part of his belt, and he held his hand under her to keep her from falling. "H-Hey, li'l Dee. You remember ol' Dedede, huh?"

"Of COURSE I dooooooo! Gimme a cheek rub, mister penguin! Pleeeeeeeease gimme a cheek rub, mister penguin?"

Dedede obliged, but not without a comment. "Oh, but you know, the little space aliens over there give rides, y'know. They're the ones I was tellin' you about, that are _real special_ and rare, remember? The ones I said I'd bring next time? The pink puffball likes fruits, and the blue puffball likes sweet stuff. So why don't you—"

Silva instantly broke away from the penguin, shooting over to the puffballs and grabbing her notebook, bouncing in place.

"You're special puffies! Wow, I'm so excited to meet you! Mister penguin told me SO MUCH about you! It's an honor!" She bowed quickly, as Waddle Dees were unable to curtsey. Even bowing was hard enough. "I never thought I'd meet some members from a near-extinct species! Maybe you guys can let me take notes on you like mister penguin did—"

"I think that's enough, Silva," Leaf interrupted gently. "They're our guests, and they might not appreciate that idea."

"But can they give me a ride—"

"No, Silva." The mother Dee moved to pick her daughter up again and restrain her from accidentally mauling their guests. She turned to the two puffballs and their king. "I'm sorry again for her, Great King—and Kirby, and Meta."

"But _mama_ …" The little Dee looked as if she would burst into tears. "…I didn't do anything bad! They said they were happy to see me! Did I make you mad, puffies…?"

Kirby and Meta Knight glanced at each other before staring back at Silva with sympathetic faces.

"No, you've done nothing wrong," Meta Knight assured her.

"Yeah, you're okay," Kirby continued, walking over to the Dee. "You can be our new friend, just like Bandana Dee!"

The pink puffball stared at her, smiling as he lifted her in front of him.

"So as our new friend, do you want a ride?"

Silva squealed in delight. "Oh, YES, puffy! I LOVE you; THANK you puffy! Oooooh, you're so soft…"

Meta Knight sighed in relief, following them into the house with Dedede close behind them.

 _Whew…at least **I** didn't have to be the one to volunteer to give her the ride…_

* * *

"So, this is Kirby—"

"Hiiii!"

"—Meta—"

The blue puff waved politely.

"—King Dedede—"

"That's _King_ Dedede to—oh wait, you already said that…"

"—and me," Bandana Dee finished. "Guys, these are my parents, and this is my little sister Silva."

"Can I pet the puffies now?" Silva whispered to her mother.

"No Silva, not right now," the older Dee shushed.

"Kirby, Meta, Dedede, we're glad to have you all. You boys are welcome to wander around here and do whatever you want; Bandana can introduce you to the rest of the families out there, if you want. We'll be eating with them tonight, since it's a reunion week, so meeting them's inevitable. Or did you wanna come out back; I see Dedede's on the tall side." Bandana Dee's father eyed the group over.

"Let's go out back," Dedede suggested readily, already backing out of the house as well as he could manage. He'd barely fit had Kirby and Meta Knight not used some…'spatial distortion' on him. Kirby and Silva dashed over to help push him out, giggling, while Bandana Dee sighed and decided to help them. Meta Knight hesitated on helping out immediately, instead turning toward his friend's parents. "Waddle Dee tribes live in closely-spaced 'neighborhoods', correct?"

"For ours, at least." Bandana Dee's mother nodded. "We all live in the general vicinity. Whether or not a family builds a house is all dependent on how many members there are. Most of our housing material is taken apart and transported if we ever have to move. We still have wanderer blood, as you know. Do you know about that sort of thing?"

Meta Knight nodded. "Oh, yes, I do. I tend to think I have a bit of that, sometimes…How do you cure that?"

"What, the desire to go somewhere?" The father raised a possibly-nonexistant eyebrow. "Go on an adventure. Either that or fight a bunch of enemies; I've heard lots of supposed remedies. Don't know how many of them actually work."

"Oh." The sapphire puffball seemed somewhat disappointed. "Well—"

The house creaked, causing the Dees and Meta Knight to turn toward the door. Kirby, Silva, and Bandana Dee were just managing to push Dedede's shoulders out of the door. The king was not amused.

"Bandana Dee, next time you oughta tell me how—Oof! Small your house is! Yowch!"

The penguin finally managed to pull himself out of the doorway, doing so with such force that he landed flat on his back outside. He even cleared the porch, he'd pulled so hard. Kirby, Silva, and Bandana Dee snickered at the king's misfortune.

"Ohhh…Maybe those 'small rulers for kingdoms of small people' guys had a point…" the king moaned. "My back will be out for a week now…"

"The king is getting old," Kirby teased. "Not like certain young puffballs."

Dedede stood up, pretending to rub his back and hold a cane. He put on his best 'grandpa' voice. "What was that, sonny? Ah can't hear that good anymore…"

Kirby and Silva laughed at this, which only prompted him to continue.

"'Ey, it ain't my fault! Back when I was a little boy, I could run circles around you ol' whippersnappers! My hearin' was sharp as a dog's, and I could run like a…a…"

"Puffy?" Silva supplied.

"Puffy! Yeah, I—wait a minute!" Dedede blinked, shaking his head. "What am I saying anyway?! I won't be outdone be a little pink gumball!"

"What about the blue one?" Silva pressed.

Dedede paused. Despite the fact that Kirby had beaten Meta Knight several times, the king greatly respected the knight, though he wasn't sure why exactly this was so. He never really considered whether Meta Knight could outrun him; he knew the puff was quick, but to consider the thought that he might be faster…

"Ehhhh…" Dedede crossed his arms. "I don't know about that. I've never seen him run a lot."

"Um, hate to cut this short, but…" Bandana Dee waved his paw. "…I was gonna show you guys around before dinner. I figured you'd want to have fun tomorrow instead of spending the day with introductions."

 _Oh, Nova._ Meta Knight inwardly shrank. _I was hoping to avoid a crowd of social interaction…No, get it all over with, Meta. He has a point. Take care of business first. You don't want to have to introduce yourself every time you have to walk up to someone…although, shouldn't they at least know Kirby and Dedede? I guess not personally or anything, so—_

Kirby cheered. _"Suika!"_

Everyone except Meta Knight turned toward the pink puff and blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh." Kirby shuffled his paws shyly. "I thought there might be some Dees with watermelons, and I was excited. Maybe they have some Maxim Tomatoes; they're really good too!"

"Oh boy." Dedede rolled his eyes. "Leave some for me; I had cup noodles for lunch."

"Yes, you all," Meta Knight interrupted. "Are we going to head off and complete the introductions, or are we going to idly stand here and discuss watermelons?"

"Okay, okay; we're moving," Dedede grumbled, turning to follow Bandana Dee. The wanderer turned and waved at his little sister as he led his friends off.

"Bye for now, Silva! I'm going to show these guys around, and we'll be back later on!"

"Okay, Bandana! Okay, mister penguin! Don't forget to come back to see us, puffies!" Silva called as the quartet walked away. "I'm gonna help mama make more cookies for the blue puffy!"

The other members snickered upon seeing Meta Knight stiffen at this comment. Clearly, Silva remembered more that was said than they'd previously thought.

"And don't forget to come meet as at our campfire tonight. I brought some marshmallows!" Bandana Dee's mother shouted.

"Mama, I wanna help cook the s'mores!" Silva piped up as the quartet walked further away.

As the quartet moved on to the rest of the tribe, Dedede suddenly scooped Meta Knight up and began rubbing him against his cheek. The king patted the puffball on the head, grinning teasingly. " _Ohhh_ , blue _puffy_ , you feel _soooo soooft!_ Isn't your security blanket _so cool?!"_

"Can it," Meta Knight commanded, trying to push his way out of the penguin's grip and eventually succeeding. "You might give people bad images about that like the last time. Remember the 'luau pants'?"

Dedede's face paled. "Dang it. I do. That was your fault; you came up with it."

"I came up with it, yes…But just remember, Your Majesty, that _you_ were the one who decided to broadcast it to the rest of the audience."

* * *

 **C/N** : Not much to say at this point, except that I don't normally use OCs. Most people come to the archive to read about canon characters and don't have a lot of time to brush up on an OC's backstory and such, so I try not to focus on them too much. However, for some stories there _is_ a need for them and dangit Multi, I did forget that because I'm a self-critical perfectionist. It's just that most OCs in this archive have very predictable story purposes (canon character X OC), or end up consuming the story with like 10-20 OCs. I...can't keep track of all that. Just, no. But I won't get into a 'how to make a good OC' rant. That's yet another journal topic.

 **(On edits:** This chapter has been **revised** and while there are still chunks of the original hanging in there, the dialogue with Silva has been almost completely rewritten. **)**


	3. I' Makes 'Chef' a 'Chief'

**Chapter 1, Part 3**

* * *

Much to Meta Knight's surprise, the tour hadn't been as bad as he'd expected it to be. The Dees were more accepting of him and Kirby than he'd though; way too accepting compared to other species he'd encountered. It made him wonder whether they were just being polite…but part of him hoped that they weren't, and he acknowledged that side of him. He wasn't particularly sure he'd remember all of their names, though, but he was sure they wouldn't mind—

"Well, there aren't too many people who you might need to remember, but the people in these tent might be useful—well, to Kirby and Dedede, of course." The aforementioned duo suddenly became alert. "One of these guys is the next leader, but…don't get the wrong idea, he doesn't play the part right now. So _pleeeeease_ don't get the wrong idea."

Meta Knight stared up at what looked to be a park shelter, but with tent sides attached around it, snapping himself out of his previous thoughts. He noticed steam rising from a built-in chimney. "Is this a kitchen, I'm guessing?"

"Hm? Wow, you guessed right; it is. It's a little modern, just for convenience."

"Making it a tent sounds like a fire hazard to me," Meta Knight pointed out flatly. "Is it just for looks?"

Bandana Dee paused, turning to the puff. "Our tribe's not in the stone age or anything, but we like traditions. Most of our stuff can be cooked over a fire or in a regular brick oven, without having to use gas or anything. But if we need extra food cooked, we give these guys a job and they get to have some fun."

Kirby and Dedede (and even Meta Knight, subtly) licked their lips in anticipation.

"Well, here we go, guys…" Bandana Dee lifted the tent flap aside for his quartet members, and then let it go after them. The newcomers glanced around curiously before they heard shouting.

"Where's the mozzarella? Grab that sauce! REGGIE, WHAT THE **HECK** ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?! Get SERIOUS!"

"But Miki!" A Dee with a stained chef's hat, apparently Reggie, popped up from staring in an oven. "My lasagna might be burning!"

"Don't you _know_ when your dish will be done?" the same voice from before snapped. Some quick glances revealed a short, somewhat-annoyed female Dee with an assistant chef's hat—in other words, not as tall as Reggie's impractically-heightened hat. Her fur was perfectly clean, as well as her dishrag and hat. "Straighten up, Reggie; cooking isn't a game!"

"I could cook in my sleep!" Reggie boasted.

"I'd shove you in the oven if you did that!" The Dee snapped her dishrag. "Put your stuff up and then check the lasagna! Ugh…"

"Miki," Bandana Dee called. "I um, I brought some visitors…is now a good time?"

Miki's face instantly softened, and she put her work on the counter, modifying pot positions as she made her way over to him. She looked the quartet over.

"Oh, hi!" The Dee appeared quite happy as compared to how bossy she'd been. "My name is Miki. I'm the assistant chef here and Reggie's the boss; in other words, I manage a lot of stuff around here. Keep stuff clean and tidy and not burnt." She turned back slightly. " _Isn't that right,_ Reggie?"

The other chef was busy at the sink, rinsing off dishes. "Huh? Yeah, Miki. I'll save you the dishes this time, though."

The Dee's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Watch the food. Anyway—" She turned back to the newcomers. "—you must be our guests!" Her glance flickered from Dedede down to Kirby and Meta Knight. "I must say, you two are good-looking. I wouldn't mind serving you guys in my kitchen." Her tone was mischievous as she glanced the puffballs over. "Reggie, would _yooooouuuuuuuu_ mind?"

Reggie pouted.

Miki continued. "But, I heard you guys are special guests, like…oh shoot." Miki rushed over to a dish on the stove. "Reggie, I thought you were watching these pots!"

"No, I was watching the lasagna!" he shouted back.

"Stop doing the dishes!" Miki smacked the Dee on his cheek. "I told you, you do the dishes while you're _waiting_ on something, _not_ when everything's about to come out! Now we have visitors, so as the next chief, you should leave this to me and introduce yourself! Wash your hands!"

Reggie washed his hands and a spatula, drying both off. "Miki, I've totally got this covered; I'm—"

He blinked. Though he had responded to Miki's mention of them before, only now had it registered that the quartet had been standing there the whole time. He acknowledged Bandana Dee's presence, but decided to make a good impression on the visitors first.

"Oh!" Reggie whipped around, the frying pan smacking into the cabinet. Miki sighed in frustration as the top fell off, making her way over to it and screwing it back on. Reggie dashed over to the quartet and bowed in an over-dramatic fashion.

"Hi you guys! Er, uhhhh…important visitors! My name's Reggie, and I'm the future chief!"

Kirby brightened up, Dedede's mouth opened slightly, and Meta Knight just blinked. Reggie apparently noticed this, shifting awkwardly. "Eheh, yeaaahhh…I know I don't really look it, but I'm gonna be in charge in a few years. I'm already kinda in charge of the kitchen…well, as far as actually doing the labor, that is."

Miki cast him a glance at this.

"Anyway, I'm the next chief! So my granddad, he um…he lets me work here because he wants me to get experience as a normal Dee before taking on his position!"

"It's because we can't cook his lasagna 'right'," Miki cut in coolly. Reggie's foot twitched, but he pretended to ignore this.

"So, I work here for now! And I'm really awesome—er, well, I think I am. Do you guys?"

The quartet, still dumbfounded, took a few seconds to nod. Reggie apparently sensed the dead-end in his conversation and instead focused his attention on Kirby. "So, you're…uh, you're Kirby, right?"

"Yup!" the pink puffball chirped.

"And you're, uh…" Clearly, Reggie hadn't bothered taking any information about the trio of newcomers to heart. He glanced over to Bandana Dee, hoping that his tribemate would step in and help him out. Bandana Dee obliged.

"Reggie, this is Kirby of the Stars, the famous prophecy hero. Most notably, he banished Nightmare, Necrodeus, Dark Nebula, Dark Matter, and a handful of other villains into either defeat, or retreat for their decades. He loves eating."

Reggie brightened up at hearing this, and Kirby grinned in return. "Well hey, Kirby! You must be pretty strong, to beat off all those monsters."

The puffball nodded.

"Huh…" Reggie looked somewhat confused. "Ummm, you talk a lot?"

"Kirby doesn't really prefer to," Meta Knight stated, putting on a poker face. Something about Reggie didn't sit right with him, but that didn't mean that he had to be flat-out rude, especially to a future figure of respect. "Hello Reggie; my name is Meta Knight and this—" He motioned to the king. "—is King Dedede, the current ruler of Dream Land. He recently expanded his empire, so there are one or two other areas currently under his control as well."

The penguin puffed his chest out. "Why thank you, Meta Knight." He offered a hand for the Dee to shake. "Pleasure doin' acquaintance stuff with fellow rulers."

"Erm, well, yeah, that's cool…" Reggie stood on his tiptoes. "But I can't reach—"

Dedede doubled over to shake the Dee's hand properly, then stood up, rubbing his back. Reggie rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, sorry about that. I better get used to stuff like this when I'm in charge." He turned toward Bandana Dee. "Hey, maybe Bandana here can make me a pair of stilts."

Bandana Dee shrugged, hoping that this was confirmation enough to satisfy Reggie until he forgot about it…hopefully.

"But…" The chef turned back toward Meta Knight, and the sapphire puffball noticed that the Dee was uncomfortably more observant than he had been when he was talking to the others… _No_ ; it was just his imagination; there was no reason the Dee should pay attention to him over Kirby. Meta Knight shoved the odd feeling out of his mind, _permanently_ , so he could converse with Reggie like a normal person.

"…Meta, was it? Or do you like to be called by your full name?" the chef added meekly, noticing the warning glare Miki was giving him at calling the puff 'Meta'. "In here, we just give everyone nicknames if their name's too long. Uh, no offense."

"You can call me 'Meta'. I'm aware of your customs, so I'm not offended," he replied easily.

"Okay, thanks. Um…" Reggie shifted to the side. "…so, what did you do for a living? Erm! I mean, 'do'; not 'did do'! You certainly don't look like the type to be unemployed!"

Meta Knight wasn't particularly sure if he should be insulted at what Reggie was saying, or sympathetic at the fact that as a future chief, he was botching a conversation up with important visitors. Regardless of his earlier suspicions (he really needed to shake that habit), he still wasn't thrilled with the fact that the chef would be in charge of Bandana Dee and his family one day. Hopefully the chief's job wasn't anything too difficult. "Well, I used to be a soldier and part-time strategist, then I added some beginning engineering to my skills, and now I work with a mechatronics crew on projects as director. I also work with another Dee, and we take computer programming jobs together. Sometimes I'll offer myself as a wanderer for hire, when I need a spice of something new."

It wasn't his complete portfolio, but it worked well enough either way. The Dee was apparently impressed, which inwardly pleased the puff. "Wow, you're pretty cool! For being, uh…how old are you, anyways? If you don't mind me asking."

"Hm…" Meta Knight casually stopped to think for a few moments. "Maybe around twenty-five, normal years. Can you translate or convert that?"

The Dee blinked, as if startled. "Hm? Oh yeah! Of course I can! Uh, did you do fighting first, or nerd stuff? Ugh, sorry! I-I mean, book stuff!"

"Fighting first." Meta Knight shifted his position slightly, hoping to appear somewhat taller. At this point, he couldn't tell whether or not the future chief was really aiming to offend…but he had no reason to, really…

"Reggie," Miki interrupted. "While you're busy blabbing with _him_ , the rest of your guests are just standing there. Learn proper chiefsmanship or whatever you want to call it, and treat all of them equally. Unless one of them is…I dunno; go back to chief school."

The Dee deflated. "But Mikiiii…can't I do that later? There's things to be cooked right now!"

It was about this point that Meta Knight noticed a strange smell. He decided to voice this. "Ummm, do you all smell anything out of the ordinary? Is something burning?"

The other quartet members sniffed the air, with Reggie and Miki following, the assistant's face in particular falling in dread. Reggie's eyes widened.

"MY LASAGNA!" Reggie grasped his cheeks in disbelief before rushing over to the oven and grabbing potholders in a mad dash to preserve his dish. "MY BEAUTIFUL LASAGNA IS GETTING RUINED BY OVERHEATING!"

The quartet could only watch the chef skeptically, while Miki merely gave him a flat stare. Meta Knight turned to Bandana Dee and whispered, "Is he really your only option for future leader?"

"I don't think Reggie's _that_ bad…" Bandana Dee answered quietly. "He's really nice, I just—"

"EEEEYOWCH!" Reggie shouted, almost dropping the lasagna pan. "BAD IDEA!"

Bandana Dee flinched as he watched Reggie frantically slosh his paws in a bucket of cold water. "He just…could be a little more mature, that's all. His heart's in the right place."

"I see." Meta Knight blinked, watching Reggie do a dance while waving his hands around. "I think 'a lot more mature' might be better."

"Reggiiiiiiie…" Miki seethed, trying to keep her cool—well, outwardly, at least. The assistant grabbed the lasagna dish and ripped the foil off the top. "If we didn't have visitors, I'd have some very _impolite_ words to say about this…"

"I know, Miki—wait. You never swear; how could you—"

"CHECK THE PASTA, REGGIE!" The assistant turned back to Bandana Dee and the others. "I'm sorry; with it being so close to dinner, it's probably not the best time for in-depth conversations. When everybody has all-day projects like area setup, we pretty much become Restaurant De-Dee. How 'bout you come back and chat with us tomorrow, when everybody will be out after we serve them?"

Bandana Dee nodded before turning to his friends. "Sound good to you guys?"

"You didn't tell me we could've eaten _here!"_ Dedede hissed. "I had to eat a can of noodles for lunch! What about my health?"

"Mr. Potato-Chip-Lover," Meta Knight muttered.

"But Meta, you like potato chips too…" Kirby pointed out, earning him a slightly-annoyed stare from the sapphire puffball.

Bandana Dee waved his paws. "Guys, guys. Are we all good?"

The two puffballs nodded.

"Fine…" The king crossed his arms before brightening up and glancing further into the kitchen. "Hey, that lasagna doesn't actually look too bad…maybe—"

"The sauce is seasoned differently," Miki cut in. "Just a warning. Reggie, prove yourself to be a proper chief. Do you have anything to say to our guests before they leave for now?"

Reggie walked back up to them, rubbing his paws together. "Heheh, hope to see you guys around. If you ever need me, just ask for Reggie. Everybody knows who I am; I'm really popular."

Meta Knight had to resist rolling his eyes. _Yeah, I wonder HOW you got that popular…You'd have to use rocket science if you wanted to find why someone COULDN'T remember you, and_ _ **I'm**_ _a rocket scientist…_

"Oh, and if you ever have trouble remembering my name, just remember this and you can tell people the general idea—'chef' is only an 'i' away from 'chief'!" the cook shouted as the quartet left out the door, with Kirby waving goodbye.

Once they were a reasonable distance away from the chef's tent (though not completely out of earshot; they could hear Reggie screaming about something yet again…), the other quartet members finally felt as if they could voice their thoughts.

"I don't like him," Meta Knight stated flatly. He wasn't about to mention the weird feeling he got from Reggie, because he was naturally suspicious of new situations, but this…He couldn't tell; was this from too much newness, or was it from something more?

Bandana Dee pouted, somewhat genuinely. "Aw, come on, Meta…! You love Italian food…I swear he's a good guy once you get to know him!"

"What I want to know is, why didn't you feed me?" Dedede interrupted, irritated. "I wouldn't have eaten anything! …Can I still have some?"

"Don't worry, Great King; you can have some…just, we weren't expecting you guys to arrive until tomorrow, but I figured I'd take you around to see everybody today so we didn't have to do that tomorrow."

Kirby blinked. "So where are we sleeping? In a tree?"

"I'm not camping out wilderness style!" Dedede protested, forgetting that Kirby loved to sleep outdoors and would naturally be the first to suggest sleeping in trees and such. "I'll—"

Meta Knight clapped his paws. "Don't worry. Bandana Dee planned everything out. Right, Bandana?"

Fortunately, the Dee nodded. "Most of us are sleeping in tents on the beach, for tradition's sake. We have several tent sizes you guys can use." He glanced at Kirby and Meta Knight. "Though, you two may have to share a tent with someone."

Kirby smiled mischievously. "Poyo!"

"Why do you keep saying that?" Meta Knight asked, giving the puff a questioning look. "You don't even bother using a pattern. Is talking really that bad? You know how to speak, but even those Dee children talk more than you do!"

The pink puff nodded. "Poyo…heehee…"

A Dee pulling a cart of fruit strolled by, causing Kirby to lose his focus.

"Suikaaaa!" the puff whined, starting to trail after the Dee. Dedede scooped the puff up, hurrying to keep up with Meta Knight and Bandana Dee, who'd chosen to ignore the duo and continue walking.

"…but we're off-topic. I just don't like Reggie. I'll still be polite to him and give him a chance to prove himself; I'm just not getting the best image right now. Is that clear?" the sapphire puff murmured.

"Whattaya talkin' about?" Dedede asked, suddenly catching up with the group. Meta Knight turned to the king and the puffball, somewhat annoyed.

"What do _you_ think of Reggie?"

Dedede blinked. "Huh? Uh, I guess he's a cool guy. If he cooks pizza, maybe you guys could be buddies, Cheese Fan."

Meta Knight was not amused.

"Meta, just…give him a chance. He's not been himself lately," Bandana Dee pressed.

"Hm?" Meta Knight's eyes narrowed. "Why's he not been himself? Is he more serious than normal, or less?"

"Well…" Bandana Dee hesitated. "Reggie's been acting a little weird for the past few days. It's nothing huge, but—I dunno, something's just off about him. He might just be stressed, with having to deal with the party. Either way, I don't think how you saw him now would be a proper indicator of how good a chief he'd be, or even what he'd be like as a chief."

"So…Meta Knight probed. "What _do_ you think he'll be like as a chief?"

Bandana Dee simply blinked. It took him a while to think of an answer. "You know, I have no idea."

"Poyo!" Kirby cheered. Meta Knight made a face.

"Yeah…maybe 'poyo' describes how his reign will be… _Crazy_."

* * *

C/N: Yayyyy. More OCs. So unprofessional. But, my comfort is that I've never seen a Waddle Dee OC before. Or if there ARE any, they don't rank that high of a status in-story. I think most OCs in this archive are match-ups for Meta Knight or something. I dunno; I'm just guessing because that's the first and only category that came to mind. Outside of self-inserts but I'm not going to get started on those. You're here for a story, not a rant!


	4. Like Father, Like Son

**Chapter 1, Part 4**

* * *

It was not fifteen minutes before Dedede demanded a snack break, and Bandana Dee was forced to oblige. The quartet made themselves at home in Bandana Dee's 'backyard' of sorts, comfortable on the edge of the forest next to the Dees' homes.

"Ahhhhhh…Bandana, these dried fruit sticks are great. I NEVER want another gummy worm again." Dedede shoved one of the aforementioned snacks into his mouth whole.

Bandana Dee seemed somewhat stunned upon hearing this. "Why…thank you, Great King…I'm pretty sure you'll be eating those gummy worms once you get back home, though…"

Kirby merely uttered another 'poyo!' of delight, trying to savor his food and succeeding…well, _mostly_ succeeding.

The Dee turned to Meta Knight, who was staring up at the sky. The sapphire puffball had been given a plate full of cookies and some breaded cheese sticks. "Hey, what do you think of your snack, Meta?"

No response. Bandana Dee tilted his head. "Hey…Meta…"

…

 _A voice echoed through a microphone in a giant presentation gym. "Running Numbers 17 and 18. Team 17, Team 18, please bring your project and team to the front, proceeding in the same order as the previous team._ _19 and 20, please…"_

 _Meta Knight and Sailor Dee made their way forward, with Meta Knight grasping the little robot in his paws to make sure it didn't fall. He'd checked the sensors; his crew had confirmed that there was no way the device with the compiler would be harmed, and he'd taken care to wrap the wires up, unlike some teams had done._ _He had a spare battery, and he had a copy of his technical report, handwritten personal notes, and anything else he may have needed as he walked up to the obstacle course that his robot would navigate autonomously._ _So many hours and work…led up to this moment._ _These two minutes of glory—hopefully less, if he wanted to qualify for that free steak dinner._ _The sapphire puffball walked up to the launching stand, setting his robot on the starting point and checking it over one last time._ _The announcer's words and the noise from the crowd bounced around his mind, but the object that took up most of his attention was—_

"Hey Meta!"

Dedede and Kirby swatted the puff at the same time, and he barely avoided taking a straight hit from both of them. His eyes narrowed as he sat up, the robotics competition falling into the far back of his mind.

"Yes, you two?" he asked, letting the annoyance lace his voice quite obviously. "What is it?"

"You were zoned out," the king stated bluntly. "Bandana asked you if you liked your snack."

"Huh?" Meta Knight glanced back down at his plate, as if he'd just realized what was on it at that moment. His eyes lit up—quite literally—upon seeing what was on it. "Oh yes, of course I do. I greatly appreciate you giving this to us, Bandana. They're really good; thank you."

"Whew, that's a relief." The Dee let out his breath before glancing at his feet. "Uh, hey, Meta…"

The sapphire puffball stared him straight on. "Yes?"

"…can you—well, if you don't mind—do you mind going back and checking on my dad? He's a surveyor for the chief tonight, and I figured since you have a sharp eye and are really smart, it might help him. If one of us helped him, he'd be able to get our fire set up quicker, and you could help him with that too. Uh, I can go, if you don't want to; I really don't mind at all; I just thought..."

"That's okay, Bandana." The sapphire puffball hopped off the stack of wood next to the tents. "It's no problem for me…" _And probably not as much work, if we're going to be hauling logs…_ "I'll be on my way."

"Great. Thanks Meta." If Bandana Dee could have visibly smiled, he would have.

"Thanks, Meta!" Kirby chirped. Anything involving early dinner was enough to merit Kirby's thanks.

"You're welcome…"

The Dee and the puffballs directed their gaze to Dedede, with him being the only one who hadn't said anything.

"…Great King? Your thoughts? Did…you want to do it?" Bandana Dee offered hesitantly.

The penguin passively glanced over his shoulder toward Meta Knight. Then he simply waved his hand toward Kirby and picked up a stack of wood. "What _he_ said."

"Okay, Meta!" Bandana Dee jumped off his seat and dashed up next to the puffball. "You're gonna need some directions, so here, let me tell you…"

* * *

"Ahah! Yeah, I can see why you wouldn't want to take _that_ sort of a risk! I can definitely feel for the person who tried that, though. Like you said, building a helicopter to do a track robot's job definitely sounds like a risk."

The robotics competition had a chance to resurface once Bandana Dee had left Meta Knight with his father. Apparently one of Silven's jobs was to survey the land after it had been scouted, and to make sure that nobody had set their tents up in a bad spot. Of course, it seemed more like he was just wandering around checking to see if the tents were set up _correctly_ rather than being in an undesirable or unsafe location.

"Ohhhh Meta…I'm glad you get that opportunity; you seem like a smart guy." Silven casually tugged on a tent rope, glancing down at the stake. "Oh! But off topic here; I've been meaning to ask…What's your family like back home?"

"Huh? Um…" The sapphire puffball considered his response to this statement, disappointed that the robotics competition had once again taken a side seat. Maybe he could finish at their dinner that night, or maybe nobody was interested… "Um, well sir, I don't really have any family to speak of…I live with my coworkers. We do computer tech, mechatronics, and engineering work for some money wherever we can find it."

The Dee turned to him as they continued walking, somewhat surprised. "What? Oh, it's selfish of me to think that everyone would follow our customs. When Bandana told me you had no family, I just figured you lived with people who'd taken you in, and they were your family—legally, at least. If we'd known that you lived like that, we would've offered you to live with us. You aren't out on the street, are you? Part-time work is hard to live on."

"Hm? No, I'm not. We built a ship and we live out of the base. An airship, I mean."

"An airship? Ha!" The Dee chuckled. "Ambitious, aren't you! Well, if you ever find yourself falling on hard times, you can always come back here. I don't mind another family member. With my boy gone, you'd be almost as good. If you or your pink buddy ever needs a backup family, we'd be happy to have you all here. You could even move in; all we'd need is a spare room, and you'd be set."

Meta Knight blinked in surprise at the offer. "Thanks, sir. I'll keep that in mind. I'm not sure if I could take you up on your offer anytime soon, though."

"But that's good," the Dee commented. "It means things are going well for you at the moment. It's just an offer to consider before you go to your last resort."

They walked for a slight bit longer in silence before Silven took up the conversation again.

"So…do you adventure a lot? Travel on foot, or do you have a fancy car or a bike, or do you use your ship? Do you have a wing cap, like in those fancy adventure games?"

Meta Knight thought for a moment before answering. He noted three—no, four—possible answers he could give if probed, so he decided to continue. "I have the ability to fly. That's pretty useful at times."

Silven stopped for a moment, staring at the sapphire puffball in surprise. "You can _fly_ …You? Forgive me, but…" If the Dee could smile, he would have. "…us Dees…we can conquer land, snow, mountains, and sea; pretty much any terrain that's thrown at us…but we have yet to dominate the air. It's beyond us and our pudgy little bodies with no wings. I should've guessed that something was up with you though; you don't have fur. That means you'd live in a special condition or something; at least, that's along the lines of what my daughter likes reading from her science books. She's very interested in biology and the way different species live." Bandana Dee's father seemed very pleased at this fact. "That's probably why she responded the way she did to you all; she mostly sees Waddle Dees and forest animals around here, so you and your pal Kirby are pretty new to her. To us adults, you guys just kinda blend into the crowd; you look pretty similar to us. But to Silva, well, she _lives_ to pick out trivial details and find new species. Hopefully she ends up finding one someday…"

It was at this point that Meta Knight remembered something. "Hey, Mr.—"

"No, no, Meta. Don't be formal." The Dee waved his paw dismissively. "Call me Silven, or Uncle Silven. You boys aren't foreigners; you're part of our family, as friends. Don't worry about relations and what to call people. Most of the Dees here are pretty lenient on the rules, especially to those who may not necessarily know our rules. You'd be on the same generation as Bandana, almost, so you and Kirby should just call everyone the same thing that he'd call them. Though most Dees just go by their first name, if a lot of people know them. That's where Bandana comes in. Of course that's not my son's real name; his real name's Taylor. But that's the name he made for himself, so most people just call him that. It depends on what his preferences are."

"Um, well…" Meta Knight tried to stall. There…There was a Dee watching them, who seemed somewhat familiar to him. Had he seen her watching them before? She was almost hidden among the tents and scenery—…no, she had to be just standing there; who would she be spying on and for what reason? But still…he figured he'd take a mental note, even if the others called him paranoid. She was wearing a blue headdress; unfortunately, he couldn't pick out any more details without staring, and he didn't want her to notice. He also didn't want to appear rude by dropping his conversation with Bandana Dee's father, so he tried to ignore the staring. All the Dees stared, maybe. It was natural; he was new here.

Now what had Silven said—?

Silven glanced back over his shoulder, noting how uncomfortable the puff appeared. "What, did I miss something?"

"No sir…" Meta Knight rubbed the side of his head, slightly embarrassed. "It's just…that name system is somewhat different than what I've been used to. Are you sure I can use that level of formality?"

"Formality? _What_ formality? You don't mind calling yourself 'Meta', do you?"

The puff shook his head.

"Well then, nobody else will mind what you call them, either. You're almost an adult, now; if you have their responsibilities, you may as well talk on the same level."

Meta Knight blinked, somewhat surprised. "Um, I'm about twenty-five…I think that's considered past an adult, isn't it?"

"Hm? Yeah, I know your age…Oh, but…wait, you have different age standards in the real world?" Silven cast another glance over his shoulder.

"Well, I believe some places around here use 18 as a legal adult, and on intergalactic levels, 21 is more of the standard…" Meta Knight stated.

Silven shook his head. "Wow. Just wow. Kids keep growing up quicker and quicker these days. Well, Meta, in our tribe 25 to 26 is when you're a legal adult. You'd be just past the limit, honestly; don't know about Kirby. Is he older or younger?"

"I'm guessing younger." Meta Knight made a face. "Why would he be older?"

"I heard rumors that Kirby was in some sort of time stasis for a while before coming to Popstar. I wasn't sure how long he'd been in there before he landed. I mean sure, you have his mental age, but he's just a general, happy, optimistic type of guy. He doesn't take any more than he needs to seriously. I…" He rubbed the side of his head awkwardly. "…I just feel that's a kinda irresponsible way to judge someone's age, on first glance. I mean, no offense to you, but I'd naturally think you were far younger than Bandana, when I first saw you. To be honest, I kinda assumed Kirby was older, because he was more outgoing. Common stereotype, I guess." Silven shrugged.

"Don't worry," the puff brushed off. "I'm sure it's not the first time I'll hear it."

He said that hoping that he'd jinxed himself out of hearing it again. Unfortunately, this would not be the case in later adventures.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I realize I've gotten you pretty off track." The Dee nudged a tent stake with his foot, barely managing to catch it and hand it to one of the older children working on setting up the tent. He simply nodded at the boy before moving on and turning back to Meta Knight. "Were you going to say something before?"

Meta Knight pondered this in his mind.

No…what he was going to say wasn't really worth saying; just doing. And _considering very carefully_ before he did it.

"Hm? Um, no…" The puff pretended to pause briefly, as if thinking about what he'd been wondering about. "I forgot it. Probably wasn't worth anything important, anyway."

"Huh, I feel bad now. I made you lose your train of thought." If the Dee could frown, he would have. "Well, I'm almost done here…"

 _What did I really do, anyway?_ Meta Knight wondered ironically. _Most of the Dees' tents are set up well enough._

"…so if you wanted to, you could head back to our house, or to help out your friends, or just look around. I really don't mind if you do; we'd planned to have this set up before you all arrived, actually." He prodded the puff's cheek. "Go on, we don't bite. We don't have mouths—that are visible, anyways."

"O…Okay, sir."

" _Silven_ , or _Uncle Silven_ , please." He shoved the puff again. "Come on, Meta; I already told you about that."

"Um…" The puff stiffened, still uncomfortable. "Yes, Uncle Silven."

"Good! There you go! Okay, I'm done. Make sure you're back for dinner, Meta; we'll wait for you."

The Dee turned and started walking away, picking at one or two final tents. Meta watched him, but as soon as Silven caught his eye, he quickly decided to continue walking. The tents that the Dees were setting up…they must not have normally lived this close to the beach, or at least, they must not have normally set up their _tents_ on the beach. It didn't stop them from setting them up effectively, and probably far more easily than most inhabitants of the land would. Meta Knight resisted the urge to chuckle; how many cappies would know how to live like this? If they did this just for an old tradition's sake, they'd probably give out after a night or two. With the Waddle Dees being wanderers, though, this style of life was genetic. Even the houses they lived in could easily be taken apart and moved.

 _Even the children seem happy living this life,_ he thought to himself, watching a group of young Dee children square off against another 'tribe' of little Dees. _I can see why Bandana Dee enjoys living here so much._

He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes as a nice breeze from the sea swept around him. The noise from the children faded into the background; his brain simply filtered their noise out.

 _…_ _It's so peaceful. The ocean is beautiful; I know that myself._ _And there aren't really any dangerous storms that hit here; there are other islands off the peninsula._ _What a safe place to live…especially since the Dees know how to move in the water._

 _All these tents are sort of charming, really._ He opened his eyes briefly to scan the area's neatly-placed tents. _And they organize them so well! They line up almost like a machine measured them out._ _To think that even those younger Dees will know how to do things that way when they grow up._

 _…_ _Huh. I wonder…if Silva will set up tents like her father, or if she'll end up wandering like Bandana did._ _Or will she raise a family?_ _I guess she's too young to tell what she wants now…besides bats._ Meta Knight blushed ever-so-slightly upon remembering how innocent and open the Dee child had acted with them. _Oh geez, I remember when I used to act like that…Maybe if I'd grown up here, I'd have never grown out of that._

He frowned. _But hey…maybe if I'd grown up here, I'd have never had to go through everything I did._ The puff glanced back at the children playing. _I'd have loved to play with those kids; I remember. There wasn't…anybody to play with when I was younger; just fighting and doing math work._ _Silven—no, Uncle Silven—he offered to let us stay with him_ _ **now**_ _any time we needed him…Why couldn't I have had that opportunity then?_

 _It's their fault. Whoever made me…is to blame for this. It's because of them that I had to put up with everything I went through, and why I ended up like I did._ His eyes darkened, and he couldn't help but clench his paws slightly. Then he blinked.

What was he thinking? He didn't want to be in a bad mood just because he didn't have a family…Kirby and Dedede's parents had died, too! Kirby lived almost the same life as he had…but…he'd only spent a short amount of time on the surface of their war-torn planet without his parents; possibly no more than a few seconds after his mother died. When he'd woken up, he'd arrived in Prism Plains, in Pupupu Village…Yes, he'd had to put up with the simple-minded villagers, but it was still a far better life than he'd had. _His_ parents—or, whoever had made him or created him—they dumped him into a war-torn lifestyle from before he could remember. Either he was a bad child, or his parents were bad people themselves. After all, what loving parent would let their kid just go through everything he had?

 _Huh…_ Meta Knight mused, lapsing back into his thoughts. Hopefully, if he thought about this now, it wouldn't come up again…even if he was being surrounded by perfect families for two weeks. Perhaps that was unlikely. _It really_ _ **is**_ _their faul—_

"Oof!"

* * *

C/N:

 **Destiny** : The only Waddle Dee OCs I can think of are from TechnoDee's Minion series.

 **Cos** : That awkward moment when you've been off FFN so long you forgot a series you were reading. -facedesk-

On other notes, if you happen to think of any critique, hit me up—I tried not to over-edit this to oblivion (being a shameless perfectionist), but I don't have a beta. This is NOT obligatory at all, because I've gotten behind-the-scenes feedback on other projects and soon realized that sometimes the person I was working with was pulling out a lot of stuff that wasn't really wrong in the first place and then saying 'It's fine whether you change it or not' or 'I liked it the original way better' after I took their advice. If it's not broken, don't make me fix it. -.-

And YAAAAAAAY I just love it when one of my two top-favorite characters has similar tastes to mine. Actually, both of my two top-favorite characters have interest in machines, so I'll always be sure to exploit that. Mainly because not everyone's interested in that sort of thing, so somebody's gotta do something with it!


	5. Listen, I Know that Alien Child

**Chapter 1, Part 5**

* * *

"Oof!"

Meta Knight suddenly found himself knocked face-forward into the ground, his train of thought lost once again. He tried to catch himself, but didn't succeed in time. Whoever slammed into him moaned, apparently as stunned as he was. Despite the nerves in his back screaming otherwise, Meta Knight quickly picked himself up and whipped around, trying to be polite and offer his assistance. To his surprise, it was a Dee with a chef's hat. A _messy_ chef's hat.

 _Oh, great…_ Meta Knight would have rolled his eyes if he could have. _It's that idiot from the kitchen…_

Still, he had manners, so he offered his paw. Reggie blinked, not fully comprehending who had helped him up—he was too busy rubbing his forehead. Meta Knight once again had to resist his irritation; had the Dee even been hit on his forehead?

"Ohhhh…thanks…" The Dee buried his face in his paws. "I'm okay."

"Um…okay…" As per usual, Meta Knight had no clue as to what to say. Instead, he walked over to pick up the chef's hat, and handed it back to him. The Dee took it without even looking—maybe this was a common occurrence for him. Meta Knight noticed a shiny, black rock lying on the ground a foot or two away from Reggie, and moved to pick it up—but the rock suddenly vanished, and the chef stood wobbling in front of him, clutching it. The Dee looked as if he'd been physically dragged into his current position, and he moaned softly. Meta Knight would have rolled his eyes…if that odd feeling of mistrust hadn't buried itself back in him, even stronger than before. He offered a paw to the chef in hopes to catch him off guard, but Reggie slipped the stone under his hat before blinking himself back into awareness.

Upon realizing who it was, his reaction was nothing short of a very startled jump.

"M-M-Meta! I uh…geez, I keep being an idiot in front of you today…" He rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, did you see that lady with the blue headdress? Do you remember which direction she went?"

"What were you doing?" the puffball asked suspiciously, though he made sure his tone of voice portrayed curiosity instead of mistrust. "Do you need me to find her? I can give her or tell her something for you if you need to; I move quickly…"

"Oh! Uh…It sorta has to do with…well, Meta, can I…ask you for any advice on girls?" Reggie asked timidly, clutching his paws together.

Meta Knight blinked, reeling at the first answer that popped into his mind. "Wait! Were you stalking a _girl_? That's gonna make her hate you; I shouldn't even have to _tell_ you that!"

"Oh, uh, I…I dunno; I've been meaning to propose, but I just can't get up the courage!" He grabbed the knight's paws desperately. "Help a fellow guy out; how do I tell her?!"

 _Oh, they've been dating. They must already know each other._ Now it was his turn to look stupid. "Oh…Apologies; I…didn't realize you two had been dating…"

"Huh? Dating?" The chef blinked. "No, not us. I've barely spoken a few lines to her; I can't ever get close enough without her blowing me off…"

The puff's expression once again fell flat, though he tried to hide it. He wasn't female, but he was fairly certain that whoever the Dee— _female_ Dee—was, she wouldn't exactly be thrilled with a stalker. Especially if that stalker happened to be the aforementioned 'idiot from the kitchen'. "Okay. Ummmm…I hate to say it, but maybe she doesn't really want to make a commitment with you…Is she already married?"

"I didn't ask you that!" Reggie exclaimed. "I asked you how I should confess!"

Meta Knight was quickly becoming annoyed. He had no experience with… _romantic issues_ , and it seemed the chef had selective hearing. Of course, he was Meta Knight, and not getting smacked with a logic block of common sense was inevitable when an issue was pushed. "Okay, listen, Reggie. I don't have any romantic advice, but you should see whether or not she's interested in you before you start following her around, or you'll look like a creep! You're all in the same tribe, but that would be irritating to anybody, wouldn't you think?"

"…uh…" Reggie appeared at a loss for words.

"Hey, I…I don't mean to be harsh or cold or anything, but…" Meta Knight rubbed his cheek. "…It's just something you've got to think about, you know? I didn't mean any offense."

The chef pondered his words, and both of them stood there in silence. Meta Knight shifted awkwardly on his feet, wondering whether the Dee—

"I got it! So I tell her I've been stalking her and I love her, and she'll accept me! Meta, you're a _genius_!" the Dee shouted, shoving the puffball before dashing off in a frenzy. "I'm a geniiiiiius!"

Meta Knight gaped slightly, glancing around to see how many other people saw what had just transpired. Fortunately, there were none, so he just continued wandering throughout the tents.

 _Oh boy…_ He rolled his eyes. _I hope he doesn't credit_ _ **me**_ _with that scheme, whoever he's running after._ _If they say anything to me about it, I'll just ask them if he's normally like…well, I'll just tell them what happened and ask if it's normal._ _NOVA, I hope it isn't…_

The sun was starting to set by this point, and Meta Knight couldn't help but wonder what the others were doing. He'd been out wandering the camp longer than he'd anticipated, and who knows how long he'd been with Bandana Dee's father? He didn't want the others to think he was lost…that would be so embarrassing. It also felt like he'd be a bad guest, because the Dees had let them arrive an extra day early, and he'd be taking up valuable setup time that they could be using to—

"…and he…noticing me! …I can't…that; it's…"

Meta Knight perked up, pushing his thoughts into a corner. Whoever was speaking was off toward the edge of camp. He wasn't close enough to hear everything that was being said, but the speaker was almost in a panic.

 _Wait…Who's saying that? None of the other Dees sound distressed like that…_

Curiosity overtook him, and he couldn't help but want to know what was happening, even if it was nothing. As quietly as he could, Meta Knight slipped closer toward the tent, while still trying to look like an innocent bystander. He took some papers out of his mouth and pretended to be studying them intently, a good façade considering they were all math-related.

"…I just have to wonder how he would respond…" Whoever said this was female, and clearly upset over something.

An older, calmer voice spoke, trying to comfort the other person. This speaker was also female. "Don't worry about it, Kaji. I'm sure things couldn't possibly go as bad as you're imagining them to be. If he doesn't, will it even matter? You're so worried about this already that you need some sort of resolution…"

"Yeah Kaji," a third, peppier voice added. It sounded familiar…was it one of the people he'd met? It…Miki, maybe; perhaps it was her. He certainly remembered her voice after the experience with Reggie. "You don't even know these new people; why are you so worried about them seeing you?"

"I'd like to talk to one of them in particular. It's somewhat important that I do so, provided they want to listen. It isn't the sort of information people would like to hear, but I'd at least like to talk to him briefly."

"It isn't like you to want to impress people…" The older voice seemed a bit surprised.

"I don't want to impress him." The first person sighed. "But it would just look incredibly odd for me-of-all-people to approach those newcomers. I need to tell him this; I need to see him so badly, but…I can't; I shouldn't…oh…"

"Kaji, I don't know what sort of information you want to give him, or why you're so frenzied over it…" Miki was apparently staying silent throughout the others' discussion. 'Kaji' didn't sound like she was calming down any. "…Can't you please tell us about it?"

There was silence for a moment. Meta Knight could hear shuffling, and he dearly hoped his hiding place wasn't found out. Finally, the first Dee continued.

"…No. I can't." Her voice was quiet, and possibly nervous. "I would prefer not to discuss it right now."

"Kaji—" The older Dee began.

"I can't—say anything. It's—no, I can't; I can't…!"

"Kaji." Had the older Dee grabbed Kaji? It sounded like she had, and they were struggling… "What's wrong? Please, you know you can tell us; don't do this to yourself!"

"Kaji…" Miki whined. "We're worried about you…"

"I don't…" Kaji was speaking again. "You can't fix this! _No one can!"_

"Kaji, calm down! Please, don't worry about this; if you're so worried about him hearing whatever this is about, just tell him!" From the sounds of things, Miki was just a spectator in this argument. But who were the other two Dees? Did 'Kaji' work for the other one? Was she their child?

"I could _never_ tell him…" Her voice sounded strained, as if she was trying to fight back and escape. "…the truth about this!"

Meta Knight quickly started studying his papers as he heard something scuffle, and then footsteps. Not too far in front of him, a Dee dashed out from between two tents on his right. Upon seeing him standing there, she stopped abruptly, studying him. Meta Knight glanced up from his papers, trying to do the same to her.

The Dee's face had lost much of its emotional intensity, which was surprising considering how worked-up she'd sounded. Her fur was slightly darker than the other Dees', and her face was a bit paler. The most obvious detail about her was her headdress. It was a long piece of…cloth, perhaps, attached to a sapphire headband of unknown—but definitely solid-looking—material. The cloth seemed almost transparent, and it was an irregular ice-blue. Meta Knight couldn't help but study it—he'd never seen anything like it.

It only took two seconds for the Dee to pause and continue running. Meta Knight stared after her, but despite the odd headgear, he quickly lost sight of her. The sapphire puff started wandering back to Bandana Dee and his friends, already starting to process what he'd heard.

 _Whoever that was…or, 'Kaji', they called her…We're 'newcomers'. What does she want with us…and what problem relates to it?_

 _She was the one watching me earlier…maybe. If that's truly what she was doing…how long had she been watching us, and why?_ _Is she…a danger to us, or a villain?_ _I'm here for a week with her, and the other Dees, so…I guess I'll find out eventually._

He glanced down at the papers briefly, wondering what had been on them—and almost lost his lunch. He quickly shoved them back in his mouth, trying to forget about what he'd seen, using the excuse that he should focus on the odd Dee, and what he was about to do next.

 _Trigonometry…_ His face had paled slightly upon seeing roughly twenty-two trigonometric functions shoved into a single equation, filled with all sorts of other letters and symbols to boot. He hoped his calculator still had batteries; trigonometry was easy, but his downfall was that it was almost _too_ easy. _No, calm down, Meta…It's no big deal. Do a relaxation chant, get out your Unity Circle, and go…to dinner…_

* * *

Silva was sitting around the back of her house, sketching butterflies while her mother got the bonfire supplies together. Despite her age, she was quite skillful at drawing and writing—when it came to science, that is. Her letters may have been huge, and her drawings may not have been to scale…but they were surprisingly good, for a seven-year-old.

The Dee child couldn't help but slump a little when the butterfly she was observing moved on from the clover patch. She should have known—butterflies went to bed when it got closer to dinner; after that was just moths. Silva didn't like the moths as much; most of them were common and brown, and she'd used up a lot of her browns. She still had a lot of other colors, like the ones in the rainbow, however…which sparked an idea back in her mind.

She really wished that blue puffy and his friend were here. They'd let her draw them, and they'd give her rides, too! Granted, the pink one wasn't as blue as the other one, but his eyes were blue, so she supposed that made up for it. It was so odd. Waddle Dees had brown or orange or yellow eyes. These creatures looked similar—well, her parents thought so—but had way different eye colors. She'd never seen a creature with white eyes that had the ability to talk to her; she'd seen creatures with colorless eyes (they had no irises, for certain environmental reasons), but no white eyes until the puffy had come. And he had skin; maybe they lived underwater or in a swamp. They certainly wouldn't live in an icy-cold climate, but…perhaps they lived in a very warm one, as well? Maybe they lived in a cave—ooooh, with bats, too! The Dee child felt like jumping up and down. Imagine living in a cave with _bats!_

If only she could study the puffies closer! They might even be better than bats, if such a thing was possible! And…maybe they were an undocumented species! …No; there were two puffies; surely somebody had already discovered their species before her. But were they well-documented? She'd never read about them, so perhaps there was still hope! They certainly weren't native to this planet at the least, so she could be the first to research them for Popstar.

And they were _so cute!_ They were such adorable-looking creatures; they looked just like her mother and father and brother…but they weren't like them—not as much as everyone else thought! Waddle Dees had fur, where the puffies didn't. And the puffies' faces were flat; they didn't have the white area that distinctly signified their faces. Their eye colors were different as well, and they came in very absurd colors. Not to mention that they could apparently wield magic powers, if everything her brother told her had been true. It was hard to believe that they were sentient like her; they looked more like stuffed animals than—

"Silva?"

The Dee child blinked, glancing up from the flower. She would have grinned if she could have.

Standing under the tree in front of her was _the_ _blue puffy!_ How lucky! Maybe she could study him now…

"Puffy!" Silva greeted excitedly. Then she stopped, noticing that he hadn't said anything back. The sapphire puffball shifted on his feet nervously. "…Puffy?"

Meta Knight glanced around an extra time before sighing, sitting down, and _opening his wings._ For a moment, the little Dee's mind went blank.

 _Puffy…bat…Puffybat? No, Puffy-bat._

"Wh…What are you, puffy?" she asked, an odd feeling creeping over her. "Are you a rare species? I haven't read about you…"

"I'm…I'm called a Pikonyan. There…aren't many of us left, so I guess we're sort of rare." He frowned. "A lot of people…don't like us, either, so some books don't document us on purpose. We're supposed to eat a lot when we're younger, so…those who don't like us try to call us pests to get rid of us. I'm not sure what that makes me to you…or what animal kingdom that puts me in, or how you classify that..."

Silva stood there, apparently still stunned. Hopefully he hadn't given her a bad impression…Or maybe—

"Puffy, if you eat a lot when you're younger, do you get a cocoon for your wings? Or are you born with them?"

Meta Knight was slightly caught off guard by this. She was quicker at thinking of things than he'd assumed. "Um, yeah. We _are_ supposed to get a cocoon; I…I didn't exactly…I wasn't the most normal case of how our species does things. How did you know that?"

"There are only two options, puffy." How did she sound so formal? Then again, explanation and commonplace questions were two different things. "Either you're a hatchling, and you came from an egg with your wings, or you grew them along like a butterfly. It does…meta…meta…" She narrowed her eyes, trying to think of the right word.

"Metamorphosis?" the puffball supplied. Silva's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, metamorphosis! _Your_ name was Meta, right?" she asked. Her eyes lit up when the puff nodded. "I knew it, puffy! Um, hope you don't mind me calling you that; it's easier. _That's_ why I thought of it; 'cause your name sounded like metamorphosis!"

"I didn't think 'meta' by itself meant anything special…" Meta Knight rubbed his cheek. "Does it?"

Silva picked up one of her books and flipped through it. The sapphire puffball tried to catch a glimpse, but all he could pick out were several lists of words that he didn't think a child as young as Silva would be able to read. Had this been what he would have looked like, if he hadn't worn his armor as a child? Considering the size of her book, the scene would have been almost surreal. Who would believe that a young child could do so much?

 _But Silva is so happy…compared to the pressure I was under. It was the only thing I could focus on at the time; learning months of math in mere days… I took my position because it would be helpful, and I thought I had a gift for it._ _I guess I'll never know whether I was good at it now; I've had too much practice to be able to tell._ Meta Knight smacked himself mentally. _Stop being depressing! You're here to have fun, so quit whining!_

"Oh! 'Meta' is a prefix. It can mean 'change', or 'change in form', or 'change from a child to an adult'. They're mainly all used in biology and animals." Silva dog-eared the page and closed the book. "Hey, blue puffy…since you're an abnormality, do you mind me taking notes on you? I won't share them unless you want me to write a book on you. Mama already told me about that, and I don't want to make you mad at me…" She rubbed her foot in the dirt. "But, I really wanna write about a rare species, and I might never see one of you again! Could you pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

 _Oh boy…But wait, doesn't she just want to know about your species?_ Meta Knight rubbed his cheek a little harder. _That's not about you then; it's about…ugh, it's about your_ _ **anatomy**_ _…_ _hopefully she hasn't had any Talks yet, or read about them…Maybe her mom told her to ignore that; that'd be nice if she did…_

"My species would probably be scientifically impossible, in a way…" He placed his paws in his lap. "But sure; as long as it's nothing personal, I can help you…Just ask me if you reuse anything later around other people."

He highly doubted he'd have to worry about this; she was only a child…but he knew himself that intelligence knew no boundaries, and as long as she could read and memorize, Silva could be as good as any other biologist in the field. The little Dee pulled out a separate notebook and wrote something on the top of a blank page. Then she pulled out a pencil, staring at his wings critically. "I will, blue puffy…But before I do that, do you mind if I make a sketch of your wings?"

 _What an odd request…but she does like bats, and that's why you came here, remember? So she doesn't have to capture a live bat by herself._ _Admit it, Meta; you_ _ **did**_ _want to help her out…She's kinda like you were as a child..._

A smile flickered across the puff's face. "Okay, sure."

The Dee's eyes lit up. "Thank you, puffy! Okay, now just hold still…lean in a little bit, and I'll try to sketch them. Your wings don't look like fruit gliders' wings, you know that?"

"What are fruit gliders?"

Silva carefully analyzed the curve she'd sketched so far, twirling her pencil a bit before glancing back up at him and continuing her drawing. "Fruit gliders are a type of glider bat. They don't have flapping wings; they glide around like kites instead, so they don't have any bones in their wings. I see you might have bones in some parts of yours, or at least some thick muscle tendons, but they're a different structure than a fruit glider. Did you _know_ that a _fruit_ _glider_ …"

* * *

In the trees above the duo, another Dee was watching them. This was one of the Dees that Bandana Dee had not yet introduced to them, and hadn't intended to. She observed the sapphire puffball, analyzing his specific traits and qualities.

 _It could be possible…it could be_ _ **him**_ _…_ _But no…don't get your hopes up; you know that it's practically impossible to believe something like that…could come true._ _You accepted long ago that they were both gone._

 _It's him. I_ _ **know**_ _it is._ _And if he isn't, he'll still know more than I do now, and even if you turn up nothing but dead puffballs…it's better than not having tried at all, isn't it?_ _But it wouldn't do to freak him out—not now, at least._ _Confirming his identity will be everything._ _Telling this to the wrong person may kill both them_ _ **and**_ _you._

The Dee leaned back against the tree, observing the Dee and the puffball for almost an hour, at which they were called to dinner and to bed. Neither of them even noticed her presence—unsurprising, considering her experiences. When she felt the time was right, the Dee gracefully leapt down through the tree branches and landed perfectly on the ground, her headdress rippling down to surround her. She quickly slipped into the shadows, leaving no trace that she had been spying on them. It was about time she got to bed herself…but from what she'd gathered that day, one more conversation would be enough to confirm her suspicions.

 _'_ _Meta Knight'…how odd that that should be your nickname. If you're who I believe you to be, that will_ _ **certainly**_ _make things interesting…_

* * *

C/N: Meta Knight is willing to indulge Silva because he knows how it feels to work hard (academically, too) as a child, and wants to be sure Silva feels acknowledged for her work. I feel I kinda rushed the scene a little, and I wasn't sure if that point was obvious enough...if you're up to answering, whaddya think? I know it needs a _bit_ of revision, but as for how much, I'm uncertain.

That Dee at the end is nobody important. Don't pay attention to her. Instead, watch Reggie and Dedede do the hula.

Dedede: Wait! I haven't sewn my luau pants back up yet!

 **Edit:** Hey there, Indigo Puff! You reviewed while I was editing these chapters to publish, so I'll reply properly next chapter. Sorry!


	6. A Being Colder Than Steel

(Just as reference: Since everybody's introduced after this chapter, I've listed the character ages in the bottom note.)

 **Chapter 2, Part 1**

* * *

It was the next morning—perhaps even afternoon—in Dream Land, and the quartet was already up and raring to—

"I WANTED TO SLEEP IN!"

…go. The visiting trio had offered their assistance to help move logs for the night's bonfires, and it had turned into somewhat of a competition at times.

The king hoisted another large log onto his shoulder, ignoring the wood chips that fell into his robe, before he realized what he'd said.

"Wait, I take _that_ back; I take it back! I'm not tired at all!" His face fell dramatically. "It's just too _early_ …"

Bandana Dee had dropped out of the heavy lifting and was currently grounded on the side, sipping some water and relaxing his body. "You know, you guys are doing more lifting than most of us Dees are. You need to stop showing off."

At that moment, Kirby happened to walk by with a log balanced on his head. Then, Meta Knight quickly dashed around him, more distracted than normal, but still able to spin the log around as he was running. Both puffballs waved to the others, and then at each other. Steam poured out of Dedede's ears.

"I'LL GET THOSE ARROGANT PUFFBALLLLLLS!" he roared. "THERE AIN'T NOBODY WHO CAN OUTDO THE KING!"

Dedede charged after the puffs like a bull, completely energized compared to his earlier complaints. Bandana Dee chuckled quietly, already worn out. He could see that his friends were losing steam, but—

"Bandana?"

Bandana Dee's heart rate spiked, and he glanced back in front of him. Meta Knight had magically made his way back here already, looking somewhat…uneasy? For what? Bandana Dee sat up in concern. What had happened to the puffball?

"Hey, Bandana Dee, can I—"

Kirby and Dedede skidded to a halt in front of them, and Meta Knight quickly leapt of the way as the duo stumbled from the sudden stop. Bandana Dee's train of thought was derailed from the sudden interruption.

"I finished first!"

"No, _I_ finished first, pinkums!"

" _I_ did it!"

" _I_ did it!"

Bandana Dee sighed, glancing over toward Meta Knight to see what he thought of the argument. Much to his surprise, the puff seemed to be completely oblivious to the dispute. The Dee couldn't help but be curious as to what the puff was thinking of—and what had he tried to ask him?

* * *

 _"_ _It isn't like you to want to impress people…"_

 _"_ _I don't want to impress him…"_

 _"…_ _I just have to wonder how they would respond…"_

 _"_ _You don't even know these new people; why are you so worried about them seeing you?"_

 _"_ _I need to tell him this; I need to see him so badly, but…I can't; I shouldn't…oh…"_

 _"_ _I'd like to talk to one of them in particular…"_

 _"_ _It isn't the sort of information people would like to hear, but I'd at least like to talk to him briefly…"_

 _…_

 _"_ _Kaji, I don't know what sort of information you want to give him, or why you're so frenzied over it…Can't you please tell us about it?"_

 _"…_ _No._ _I cannot._ _I would prefer not to discuss it right now."_

 _"_ _I could never tell him…the truth about this…"_

 _…_

 _What is it?_ _ **Who**_ _is it?_ _We're the only newcomers around here…She must want something with one of us._ _But which one of us, and why?_ _What's so important that she'd have to tell one of us?_ _Is she_ _ **really**_ _referring to us, or is it just another Waddle Dee cultural thing?_ _No…it can't be; Bandana Dee's already told us the basics; newcomers are exactly as they sound._ _There isn't any hierarchy like that._ _But something's definitely up with that Dee…What?_ _What's so important—and potentially bad—for us to hear?_ _Or is it_ _ **just**_ _…_ _ **one**_ _…_ _of us to hear?_

 _Maybe I'm exaggerating. Maybe she's referring to someone else._ _But…I'm curious…and something could be wrong here._ _This could be my chance to get an edge on the situation._

The sapphire puffball returned to reality, glancing at Bandana Dee. _Bandana has to know something._ _He's bound to these people as his family and he lived with them for a long time…he's got to know something about that Dee._ _And if I'm just making a big deal out of terminology confusion, at least he'll be able to tell me and I can stop thinking about it._

"Hey, Bandana Dee," Meta Knight called, stopping the wanderer in his tracks of calming-Kirby-and-King-Dedede's-argument. The Dee turned to him curiously, along with Kirby and Dedede.

"Yeah? What is it, Meta?"

 _How to shake off Kirby and Dedede…Oh, I know._ "Do you have a few minutes? I wanted to ask you something that's probably boring, but I didn't figure I'd waste their time." He motioned to the other two. "They probably want to head back and get another snack already."

Kirby nodded. "Ohhhh, food—well, I was gonna help…" He rubbed his paws together shyly. "…you know, keep helping so we can have bonfires tonight…"

Bandana Dee raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Kirby? I know you're a star warrior and a hero and all, but don't overexert yourself trying to do a big job. Only do the work of two or three Dees at the maximum; you aren't a tank."

"That's me." Dedede flexed his muscles and grinned. "I'm the tank. I've been working out. Let me handle this. You weaklings can run along and play."

Kirby clapped his hands. "Bet I can do more?"

Dedede turned to the colossal stack of wood where the Dees were just beginning to gather. "You're goin' down, pinky!"

Despite the fact that Meta Knight had wanted to get rid of them, he couldn't help but be slightly alarmed that the king and the puff were going at yet another heavy-lifting challenge. "You know, you two, you may want to consider what will happen if you throw your back out again—"

"I don't have a back!" Kirby boasted, grinning innocently…directly in Dedede's line of view. The king did not fail to pick up on this.

"My muscles are made of extreme BEEF! Yours are made of marshmallows!"

Meta Knight and Bandana Dee watched awkwardly as the two bickered back and forth, with Meta Knight wondering if things would have gone shorter if Kirby had kept saying 'poyo' for the rest of his life. It was somewhat cruel, he knew, but perhaps he could have developed a 'Yoshi-Yoshi!' thing and avoided speaking common language.

Then again, that would be somewhat impractical, and also impossible. The problem with Kirby wasn't that he couldn't speak; it was simply that he was confused on _when_ he should speak. And, as had been demonstrated back in Prism Plains, saying 'poyo' had earned him roughly the same reaction as he would have gotten using common language, so it wasn't as if he had much motivation to learn proper grammar. Well, grammar as good as _his_ , should he say…

…perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration on his behalf. Being an engineer or science geek meant that your grammar had to be horrible, right? Unless you were in computer coding, which was exactly why Meta Knight and Sailor Dee were the only two interested in it.

Kirby and Dedede charged off into the crowd of Dees, apparently on a race to see who could set up the biggest bonfire first. Neither of them seemed to have agreed on when they should have started running.

"Hey! You cheated!" the king shouted.

"Nah-ah, you're cheating yourself!"

Bandana Dee sighed. "Well, they're off." He turned to Meta Knight. "But I'm sure you wanted that. You needed me privately?"

"How did you guess?"

"Well, I dunno…" Bandana Dee shifted on one foot. "I just guessed, like you said."

"Good enough. But I _would_ like this private, so is there any place without eavesdroppers?" His mind flashed back to the staring Dees yesterday.

"Okay." Bandana Dee nodded. "Let's walk along the beach. It's flat, so there won't be any eavesdroppers."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Meta Knight answered. He turned, walking toward their destination with Bandana Dee.

* * *

The ocean breeze whipped across his bare face, and Meta Knight breathed it in, savoring it. He lived near the beach, yes, but he spent a nice amount of time inside, and it had been a while since he'd had a break to go outside. Bandana Dee noticed this before sighing happily.

"Isn't it funny, Meta? We live on the beach, but we're walking around sniffing it like a bunch of tourists."

The blue puffball cracked a grin. "Ha; crazy, right?"

"It is, isn't it. I guess because we go wandering all the time." Bandana Dee lifted his spear up in the air, spinning it around a few times out of boredom. Meta Knight noticed the Dee subtly glancing around, and he followed suit. Nobody around was within any sort of earshot, even with the wind. Bandana Dee had apparently come to the same conclusion, as he turned to the puff and nodded.

"Okay, we're alone. What is it?"

Meta Knight hesitated.

 _I'm basically telling him that I'm curious about one of his family members who I was spying on. Isn't that just a great way to start a question?_

 _Then think of something to hide it with instead! Be vague and go from there; he's probably going to introduce you to all these Dees anyway._ _Nobody has anything to hide here…except maybe that strange-looking Dee…_

"Hey, Bandana Dee…" Meta Knight paused, reconsidering, but his curiosity eventually won out. "…you know everyone here, right?"

"Yeah. Of course I do." The Waddle Dee gave him a quizzical look. "Why?"

"I wanted to ask if you knew someone…I don't think they look like anyone else in the tribe. Can you place them?"

Bandana Dee tried to push his bandana back onto his forehead. "Sure. Go ahead, try me. I've lived here more than twenty years with these Dees."

"Okay." Meta Knight focused back to the Waddle Dee he'd seen ever-so-briefly. "Do you know a female Waddle Dee with a really strange-looking headdress?"

"What do you mean 'strange'?" The Dee kept strolling, gazing along the beach.

"Well, it looked like an icy blue, and it seemed somewhat transparent. And someone called them 'Kaji'."

Bandana Dee suddenly stopped walking, freezing in place. "Oh, her? Kajinara. You… _did_ say she was the one with the headdress, right?"

"Yeah," Meta Knight replied, uncertain as to why his friend reacted the way he did. "Why? Should I not have asked?"

"Well…why do you want to know about her?"

"I'll…it'll take a while to explain." Meta Knight quickly glanced around to make sure nobody, especially the newly-named Kajinara, was listening to them. "Please tell me first, so I don't get the wrong idea."

Bandana Dee appeared to consider this. "Well, don't get the wrong idea here, but…" He sighed. "You're trustworthy, and…mature. I suppose I can tell you."

"Is there something wrong about her?"

"Huh? No. Kajinara's…just a little weird." Bandana Dee adjusted his bandana awkwardly, noticing that Meta Knight wasn't wearing his. Shame. "She's a really brutally-tough scout, and she's always cold and secretive. Nobody really knows anything about her; even I don't. She rarely talks to _anyone_ , but when she does, she's always so polite and formal that you wouldn't think she had problems like that. She doesn't have any family or children here, and no one would ask her, either; that's how bad it is. We aren't just talking _your_ level of cold here—well, you're pretty frosty—"

"Thank you."

"Sorry; you asked for the truth. But she's just…I dunno. I can't put my paw on what's off about her. She's always so distant, only the chief would know. I've barely talked to her, myself…maybe; I don't remember. Even then, I asked the chief about her once and he couldn't give me anything. I don't know whether he just knew a vague answer, or whether he didn't want to tell me. Either way, she doesn't really hang out with anybody much, or even come out at social events at all, so I don't worry about it too often. She's been living here longer than I have, after all. It's weird, though…"

Bandana Dee stopped and turned to Meta Knight. "I've seen a lot of her lately, now that I think about it. She's pretty experienced in being sneaky, so I didn't think it was her at first. But then I caught enough of a glimpse to know it was her for sure. She must not want to make it obvious that she's spying, even though that's what it looks like."

"If she's that good…" Meta Knight still felt a bit off talking about the strange Dee. "How could you pick her out like that?"

"It was an accident I caught her the first time." If his mouth had been visible, Bandana Dee would have been grinning sheepishly. "But once I caught on, well…you might think this is weird, but I thought it was you at first. She picks the same style of snooping as you do. Like I said, I think she might be spying on us, even."

"But…spying on us?" Meta Knight gave Bandana Dee a skeptical, but believing, expression. "Why would she do that?"

"I have no idea. I've lived here before, so it's gotta be one of you guys that she's watching. Where did _you_ see her?"

"Just around camp. But listen," Meta Knight cut himself off. "I heard her saying something weird—well, I think it might've been her, 'cause that's around where I saw her, when the person stopped talking. She was talking with two other Dees, and she said something about 'I don't know whether or not I should tell him'...and I think she was referring to 'the newcomers'." The puffball emphasized the quote with a paw gesture. "That's what one of the other Dees addressed them, or whoever, as. She seemed really upset."

"Really?" Meta Knight couldn't tell very well from his expression, but Bandana Dee's voice definitely sounded surprised. "I've never seen her upset. Wow, maybe something IS up with you guys…but she doesn't know any of you. I can't imagine what she'd want to tell you all…"

"I didn't hear a lot because she almost caught me. She got really panicked and vague when I got close enough to hear; maybe she could tell I was there. I didn't hear her talk any more to the other Dees after I saw her come out from between the tents, so that's why I figured it was her."

"I can almost bet those two other Dees were Miki and Cody; they're the only Dees who really talk to her." Bandana Dee started thinking. "But if she wouldn't tell them anything…I wonder what it was about? Maybe I could ask them."

"Make it subtle, please. I don't want to look like a spy."

"Hey, if she can spy on us, we can spy on her. Two can play at this game." Bandana Dee rubbed his paws. "I oughta send Silva around; tell her it's a spy game. No one'll accuse a little kid, unless she tattles. Eh, wait a minute…she probably knows Silva's my sister. But it's worth a shot; she never really socializes, so maybe she wouldn't notice."

"We're not causing any trouble, right?" Meta Knight's face fell. "I mean, like you said, she never showed her face until we showed up. I mean, _I_ can leave, if you want."

"No. None of you are leaving; you didn't do anything. She's a scout; they're our equivalents of soldiers. Maybe she's just overprotective," Bandana Dee offered.

Meta Knight sighed. "I wish I could believe you…but what sense do you make out of the conversation? Either she's telling the chief something went bad, or she's telling someone else something went bad. Maybe it's…I don't know; you live with her, what's she usually concerned about? What's _her_ family do?"

"Like I said, she doesn't have any."

"I just can't believe she lives here alone when you're all so family-oriented. Doesn't she stay with anyone? Whose tent does she stay in? Or does she have her own?"

"I think she bunks with Cody. I'm not quite sure why; Cody has enough family to attend to…Maybe it's just 'cause they're friends. I dunno. Cody could probably tell you a lot about her, or…well, she might not say anything at all."

"Who's Cody, exactly?" Meta Knight asked.

"She…You know, I don't know what role she played in the tribe, either. I know nowadays, she just helps out wherever she needs to. She's really nice; like a second mom for everyone. She's the nicest, kindest, most peaceful Dee in the tribe; that's why I don't get why she gets along so well with Kajinara. I guess because she took the time to understand her. Either way, maybe you should ask her. Did Kajinara get a good glimpse of you?"

Meta Knight thought back over the moment. "She got a glimpse of me, but she couldn't tell I was eavesdropping, hopefully. I pulled out my instructions sheet and pretended I was really confused."

"Huh…" Bandana Dee crossed his arms. "I suggest one of us sneaks in and interrogates Cody. The other one could keep Kajinara occupied somehow."

Meta Knight shuddered. "Huh, sounds like that person would get the _easy_ job. I think I'll talk to Cody, unless you can think of any other questions you want answered yourself."

"That's very kind of you." Bandana Dee barely it let on, but he wasn't thrilled with the idea of keeping Kajinara occupied. Meta Knight picked up on this.

"Hey, if I have to distract her or stir up trouble, she may recognize me. Then she might catch on that I was snooping, and she'll either get suspicious, call me out, or bring some other sort of punishment on us. You can't get kicked out."

"Oh yes I can," Bandana Dee muttered. "But you have a point. I want to know answers too."

The Dee turned away from Meta Knight. "Let's head back to camp. I'll lead you in the general direction, and then I'll go off and start my plan."

"Okay. I'll hang around for a few minutes before looking for Cody; maybe I'll just sit around somewhere. That'll give you a chance to catch Kajinara."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Bandana Dee nodded. "Okay, I'll do my best. You go in and get that info!"

* * *

C/N: This will hopefully tie up the 'longer C/N's, but I couldn't give character ages until they were all introduced.

Before I get started, Meow is on things and caught something I missed. In both anime and game, warpstars are pretty mysterious in terms of what they can do besides carry Kirby around. It's somewhat vague whether warpstars are owned by only specific people in the games, but for convenience, they are for most of my stories. Depending on who uses them, they can also be used to enhance abilities or tap into extra magic. Kirby and Meta Knight's species are based on universal anomalies (black holes), so their use gives them the space-warping properties necessary to fit Dedede in the house...or at least through the front door. If either puffball were, for some reason, unable to use their warpstars, the other members of the quartet could potentially use them if the puffs were close enough in the area. However, the effects of their use would be different because the puffs themselves weren't using the magic—just supplying it.

As promised, here's everybody's ages.

 **Character Ages** : (Waddle Dees live anywhere from about 120-150 normal years)

Miki, Kajinara, and Reggie: With Miki being youngest and Reggie being oldest out of the range, I'd say they're about 40-50 years old. (So in human terms, they'd probably be in their mid-20's to early 30's, since the Dees live longer.)

Bandana Dee's parents (Silven and Leaf) and Cody: About 60 for Silven and Leaf, since they're about the same age, and Cody would be five or seven years older than them.

The Chief (Benjamen): The chief of the tribe (not really an important character, since he hasn't appeared yet XD) is about 105-110 at this point. Reggie is the only relative left in the tribe to take his place; his family moved away, and Reggie came back to his grandfather.

 **The Quartet** : Meta Knight is about 25 or 26, with Bandana Dee being two years older. I'm still undecided on Dedede's age, but for this story he's 35 or 40 (just generally older than Bandana). Kirby's age in this universe is unknown. To solve this, Meta Knight simply suggesting using how many years of experience he's had as a hero, so they all just stick with it. (Not sure how many that would be at this point...though for sure, this would have taken place after 'Return to Dream Land'...)

I'm really glad that the OCs aren't irritating. I wasn't expecting Silva to do so well either; so that really means a lot to me. Thanks!

-ooo-

 **Indigo Puff:** _Hey there, Indigo! I think you commented on two other stories of mine, but I'm always glad to hear from you! Yeah, I love Waddle Dees too; they have a lot of potential in stories. Wish they were more frequently-used in stories._

 _Here's a little hint for the story-the main twist was revealed before you opened the story intro. I'll leave it at that for you to interpret. :)_

 **Meow** : _Hi! I think this is the first time I can reply to you properly, but I've read your other reviews. Thanks so much for them! ^-^_

 _Aw, I'm glad you like the Kirby-sword image! It's actually my avatar, so it just shows up whenever I can't think of a good cover for a story. I've been having that problem a lot since I started college. ^^;_

 _Wow, you've caught a lot of things so far! The only thing you missed is that Meta Knight has no grander destiny in this story; it's something else. Haha, un-stereotype. :) But seriously, you're right on-target! One of those guesses is halfway-through-the-story important. (Silva gave everyone a hug, but only after her mother put her back down in the house. Thanks for catching that; I fixed it. Must've lost it somewhere in the editing...)_

 _The quartet's backstories are in an upcoming chapter (the second one after this, in fact). Kirby and Dedede play around with theirs more after the climax._ _Don't worry, Dedede's not disappearing; he just doesn't have a main role. Without spoiling anything, it'd be really hard to make the ending happy without him. And I'm definitely keeping the quartet interactions forever; I love them working and interacting together. That's not changing in any story. :) (I actually have several stories where Dedede plays the main role with the quartet, but I haven't finished building the plots for them yet. It's a personal rule of mine to finish the plots and write half the story before I post it, because of college making updates erratic.)_


	7. Love your Enem--um, Allies

**Chapter 2, Part 2**

* * *

Meta Knight was pretty confident that he was lost. Well, in most people's definitions, he was. In his definitions, he was just creating a new map of a new area. If he ever ended up entirely disoriented, he could always head to the edge of the tents. But he could recall that rain barrel and the green ribbon.

…hopefully. The blue puffball cast a suspicious glance at the strikingly-similar barrel's ribbon. It looked a little more sea-green than regular green, now that he looked at it closer.

No, the rest of this looked familiar. This had to be the place; it was where he'd seen Kajinara yesterday, and where the last few Dees he'd asked told him Cody would be for the next half hour. As he glanced around, there was only a handful of Waddle Dees around. The majority of them were probably setting up the main areas. These few must have stayed behind to make sure nothing happened to their remaining housing and supplies.

Meta Knight suddenly started doubting his decision. Sure, he hadn't wanted Kajinara to recognize him, but…he had no idea which of these Dees Cody could be, or where she even was. He knew she was here, but a half hour wasn't too much time. What if she'd left? He tried to wander around the place, looking for any familiar spots to where he'd been yesterday while not drawing too much attention to himself, and then…almost magically, he noticed a Dee sitting outside a tent, placing a few last pieces of laundry into a crate. The blue puffball noted the presence of several crates, in and around several tents. He could only assume it was their common method of storage.

He was about to walk up to her, but she met his eyes before he even thought of anything to say. How she'd sensed him when he was being so quiet was beyond him.

 _Don't just stand there staring at her! Ask her where Cody is!_ The blue puffball squirmed a little, uncomfortable about having to _ask_ for information instead of already knowing it, but he'd done this the last few times, so this should really be no problem. And…this Dee…there was something familiar about her. His black-hole tummy felt at ease about her, and he couldn't help but feel compelled to trust her. An odd feeling of possible respect for the Dee settled on him…though he dismissed it quickly; he had no idea why he should feel such a thing. Regardless, the feeling of trust was still there, and he couldn't ignore it, try as he may.

"Excuse me, do you know where Cody is?"

The Dee's eyes brightened. "That would be me. And who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"

Meta Knight's mind locked for a moment. Did he really just get the right Dee on his first—well, sixth, really—try? What should he tell her? His name, or his nickname? No, his nickname was going to have to be enough for now.

"Call me Meta." He offered her his paw.

"Oh, one of the newcomers. Hello Meta, I'm Cody," she restated, shaking his paw. "You're quite polite. Your parents must be proud."

"Actually, I don't really have any parents…I don't know where I came from." _How awkward. They all have family members, and I have none._

True to his assumption, the Dee seemed surprised, and perhaps…sympathetic. "That's terrible. But whoever raised you, they must be happy, and you can certainly be. Now, you were looking for me?"

"Oh yes." His original mission snapped into his mind. "Can I talk with you privately, maybe? I don't want anyone else to hear us."

Cody thought about this for a moment. "Okay. Follow me."

-pagebreak-

"Here, sit down. I'm sorry for all the clutter, but when you you're staying in a tent, I suppose it's inevitable."

Meta Knight walked over and sat down on the bed she'd pointed to. There were two in the tent, each on one side. "I don't think it's very messy at all."

"Yes, but all these boxes bother me at times." She lifted a small crate up and stacked it on another. "Most of these are filled with toys…but my children's tents are full enough with boxes like these. I just keep these because letting them stash their tools in their tents means they get more work done."

Meta Knight gazed around at his side of the tent. It had three boxes, neatly stacked at the end of the bed. That seemed to be all there was on that side.

 _Is this Kajinara's half? Bandana Dee_ _ **did**_ _say she lived with Cody…_

"Well, this side is clean at least," he offered, hoping to get a reaction out of her that would affirm his guess.

Cody shoved the last box in a place to her satisfaction. With that, she brushed off her paws and walked over to her bed. "Oh, of course. That's my roommate's side. She doesn't have many belongings to speak of; it's just the way she lives."

That wasn't nearly as much information as Meta Knight had hoped. He hadn't even gotten a name out of her. "Is she your sister?"

"Hm? Oh no." Cody shook her fur off and climbed onto her bed. "She's…just a fellow Dee. Kinda like you; she doesn't have any family, really. So she's a dear friend. But, what did you want to speak about with me?"

 _Shoot_. _How am I supposed to get any information out of her when she keeps avoiding the question? I guess my only option is to ask straight-up…I hate to do that…_ "Um, I wanted to ask about someone, and my friend said you might know something…"

Cody cast him a questioning glance, but Meta Knight also caught a hint of suspicion. Clearly, information wouldn't come easily. He'd have to be careful. But how? Maybe if he just made a show of knowledge, he'd find out, but…that'd be way too obvious that he'd been snooping. What question could he ask that wouldn't look suspicious? He didn't really know anything about Kajinara…only what Bandana Dee told him. But what could he get out of _that_? The fact that she was a scout?

An idea hit him. He wouldn't ask directly about Kajinara; he couldn't do that if she was even avoiding that they shared a tent. He was a newcomer, and a swordfighter. Only the scouts were trained and allowed to fight without the chief's consent. If he asked generally about scouting and fighting, she might slip up and mention Kajinara.

"Well, I guess because I'm new, I just wondered…why are only some of you allowed to fight? Bandana Dee told me a little, but he didn't go into any detail." Bandana Dee had told him a bit more than that, but it would work for this sort of question tactic.

"Why, you ask?" The Dee suddenly got up again, appearing less on edge but more nervous. She moved back over to the shelf, moving some objects around, or out of the way. "For the same reasons that most people have armies instead of teaching their children how to fight. It scars fewer people, little kids aren't hurting each other, and less people have to go through strict training. There's no fighting over who has to fight, if you'll pardon the wording, and since we prefer to be very peaceful, teaching everyone only the _basics_ of self-defense—instead of the whole boat—keeps everyone out of that sort of thing. Unless you're a wanderer, like Bandana is. Then you're allowed some training."

"So…" Meta Knight thought this over. "You all know how to fight if you need to, but the scouts are trained more rigorously?"

"That's right." She pushed her way to the back of the shelf, plucked a knit, orange cap off of it, and dropped it into the crate, along with a smaller item concealed in a leather pouch. Meta Knight strained to get a glimpse, a possible theory about Cody crossing his mind, but he failed to confirm it before she closed the box. "I don't like being too involved in the wars of our tribe, which luckily aren't many."

Meta Knight nodded, trying to think of his next point.

She turned around to face him, eyes narrowing. "But I don't think that's what you really wanted to ask, though. If Bandana referred you to _me_ , and you're here talking about scouts, you wanted to ask about Kajinara, didn't you?"

A handful of curses flickered across Meta Knight's mind before he tried to figure out how he was going to deal with this new development.

"Eavesdropper, aren't you?" It didn't really sound like much of a question, with the tone of voice she had used. "I have more experience with that sort of thing than you would think, Meta. _Everybody_ wants to know about Kajinara. Plus, I'm probably twice your age at the least and have dealt with _more_ than enough people snooping around me for information on her. And…your presence feels a bit strange. I get this weird tingling sensation from the direction you're standing, so I recognized that it was you, from where you were listening to us and I felt you. Must be troublesome for you to manage that. But really, I was just _waiting_ for you to say something."

 _Shoot! I forgot to keep the Dimensional Cape around me while I was listening!_ _But it would have looked way too strange to any passerbys, so there's not really much choice…_ Meta Knight wasn't frustrated or upset with himself, but he couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed. The one time he'd forgotten to hide his black-hole-magnified…energy signature? Not accurate, but it would do. The point of the matter was, whatever he wanted to call it, somebody had to go and sense it. But…Normal people didn't just outright sense that; she had to have some sort of cheating device…or she was just really well-trained in it.

 _But why would she need to know something like that—_

She pushed the crate closed with a paw, still maintaining her eye contact with him. "But I'm not mad; not yet. Can you explain your curiosity, outside of purposeless snooping?"

"Hm? No. I just…" Well this was terrific. How did one go about explaining this sort of thing without looking awkward? But, he'd had to take several awkward conversations before, so one more shouldn't be any difference. "This will sound strange, but I think she's following my friends and me for some reason, and I was curious as to why. Bandana Dee said she doesn't come around at parties, so I suppose I got a little suspicious. It…I'm probably just being paranoid."

"Hm. I see… Kajinara did mention you…but as to what importance you hold, I have no idea. You're apparently of some value to her, though." She shoved another crate on top of the one she'd just closed, and then surrounded it.

"Me? Am I a value, or a threat?"

"Yes, you. She didn't mention the king, and I only heard Kirby's name once, so I figured you were the only one left. Don't worry; Kajinara won't hurt you unless she's certain you'll hurt one of us." She eyed him over again. "But she seemed more distressed over you than threatened. I have no idea why. She wouldn't tell me—although I'm pretty sure you already knew that."

"You've known her for a long time, and I've not even spoken to her properly…" Meta Knight played with his paws. "Don't you have _any_ idea why?"

"I've done some thinking. But so far, they're all crazy, or too cloudy." She finished putting her mystery belongings away and sat down on her bed to face him. "I'd have to know more about _you_ to make any more guesses."

 _Shoot. What does she want to know?_ _If it's something too important, I'm not telling._ "May we keep this private, perhaps? Just, before we go any further."

"If you keep everything you've learned a secret, I'll give you the same honor. In other words, let's leave this conversation and everything we've said before it a secret. How's that sound?"

She looked more than reliable and accepting of that, and since Meta Knight was just as eager, the agreement was barely held back for more than a few seconds. He wasn't particularly sure who he'd bring this up with anyway, but…he'd figure that out later. He was almost positive he could tell Bandana Dee anything general without breaking the deal—after all, what had he even learned here, anyway? Next to nothing, really; at this point, _he_ could be the one spilling the beans if he wasn't careful.

"I promise," the puff affirmed.

"That makes two of us. I promise; you have my word."

The two sat there staring at each other before Meta Knight finally sighed. "Okay, now that everything's off-limits conversation-wise…What do you need to know about me?"

The Dee echoed his sigh. "Honestly, I have no _idea_ where to start. If you don't know her, I can only guess off of what she knows about you. Is there anything especially noteworthy about you that another Dee would mention?"

"That another Dee would mention…" Meta Knight thought for a bit. "Well, I fight…"

"No problems with that," Cody dismissed. "Next."

The blue puff hesitated. "Okay. Well, I have a magic sword, and my cape is somewhat magical, I suppose…It does some dimensional tricks." He stopped to think, deciding it best not to reveal the cape's 'energy-signature'-masking properties. "I look like Kirby; we're a rare species…I dunno. I'm lost on what she'd think about me. Maybe I remind her of a family member or something."

Cody froze, and her eyes narrowed. "Do _not_ talk about her family. Critical point. While that may be a logical case, she would've told me already if that was so. I repeat, don't talk about her family. If you do, I'll make sure you thoroughly regret it."

The mystery bundle she'd placed in the crate flashed into his mind. If it was what he thought it was, her threats were certainly valid. "I won't. I promise."

The Dee relaxed. "Good. If she comes to you and says something, that's perfectly fine, but I'd prefer if she rehashed the past as little as possible." She noticed him open his mouth to ask a question and quickly held her paw up. "No, you don't need to know why. I'm almost certain that you can theorize on your own and make those guesses. It's not something you need to pry into, and it's also information that you'll find impossible to get."

The lack of knowledge—or rather, lack of details—was annoying Meta Knight, but there was a limit as to how far he was willing to pry…well, for now. He'd made a promise, though, so he had to keep his word and hope that someone else would say something about Kajinara for him. With this in mind, he nodded politely to Cody. "I understand."

"Hm, I guess you're a pretty trustworthy person. You haven't proven me wrong, so I'll keep trusting you unless you prove not to be worthy of that. Be aware, though…" The Dee narrowed her eyes. "Kajinara is dangerous, both to you, and herself. If you say or do _anything_ that causes her to make a reckless or dangerous decision, I will personally hunt you down, dismember you, and throw you in the ocean. The tribe will never have to know."

Meta Knight nodded mutely, wondering both how Kajinara could be...for lack of better words, suicidal, and how Cody could be so threatening. It didn't really seem to match their images…well, maybe it would, in their circumstances. But what _were_ Kajinara's circumstances, anyway? He'd come for information about her, and he'd left with little more information than he'd come in with. Not to mention that now, Cody may or may not be added to their list of stalkers, and he had to keep this all a secret. Maybe he could just keep the _information_ a secret, and still inform Bandana Dee about the general events…

Cody let herself lean back against the bed, perhaps as an attempt to relax. "Thank you. You know, I'm sorry for having to threaten you; I'm just…worried. Kajinara tells me everything that's troubling her, but…but she didn't tell me what's wrong now. She's always told me, except for once…" The Dee sighed. "I can only hope we aren't revisiting those times."

Meta Knight blinked, glancing up from his paws to Cody. "May I ask what happened then?"

"Hm?" She shifted from her back to her side, staring at his curious expression. "Oh, my bad. I guess I kinda threw that candy out there, and I don't really know anything…Since this is already a secret, I suppose it can't hurt to tell you it. A while back, Kajinara went out for an extremely long period of time. Not just 'a few _days'_. We're talking 'a few _months'_. I was so worried; I searched everywhere I could for her. She just left me a letter saying she would be back when my children would be born—see, I was expecting twins at the time; those were the next-to-last children I had. I had so many more places I wanted to search for her, but with my children coming, I was compromised outside of what my family would let me search over. Then, one day…she came back, and she wasn't hurt that bad physically. But something was different about her— _really_ different. She seemed…I can't describe it; there were a few little things; minor details…For one, she always seemed to be thinking deeply about something, but supposedly, she could never recall what it was about. A few weeks after that, she completely devoted herself to scouting. She was into it before, but she had started to lighten up…and then when whatever event happened after those weeks…I guess that was when she made her mind up. She scouts all the time now."

Where could Kajinara have gone? And why? Meta Knight turned these thoughts over in his mind, but like Cody, quickly realized that there wasn't enough information to form any guesses. If only he had a location, or a—wait a minute, what about a time? "How long ago was that?"

Cody seemed somewhat surprised about this question. "Huh? Um, hm…I never thought about that…" She closed her eyes. "Nothing significant was happening, that I was aware of…"

"Maybe I know something," the puff hinted. "Can you tell me?"

"It was…" She hesitated, but then decided to tell him. "About two-and-a-half decades ago in our years, if memory serves. Give or take a little, since she was gone for a while. Ring any bells?"

There was one bell that rang quite clearly, but first, he made sure he searched through any events he knew of on Popstar or anything that could relate to it in interplanetary news. He came up with nothing. "Wellll…I can't think of any events, but I'm not a history expert, so there's probably still some possibility out there…"

Cody gave him a strange expression—one that seemed suspicious, disappointed, neutral, and perhaps another emotion, all at the same time. Should he continue? What he was thinking of might be a little self-centered…eh, he might as well; it made a little sense…although it still left a lot of doors open, and answered no real questions…

"Um, if it helps, I'm about that old…" he offered. "Maybe I'm someone's child that she knows. But, all I remember is growing up in an off-planet army base; I didn't know about this planet for a while. Maybe my parents died or something, and she knew them. But it's…yeah, it's probably just coincidence."

"It's definitely a factor to consider, but…that doesn't explain why she came back so differently…" Cody clenched her blanket. "If your parents died, she'd have to do something with you, and she doesn't have the capacity to do anything like sending you off-planet, since you'd have been an infant at that point…I know she's very secretive, but I don't think she had contact with anyone in particular with space access outside the tribe; nobody at all…This is so frustrating!"

Both of them were silent for a moment before she continued speaking.

"But…there _is_ something about you that's important, or at least some quality of yours," Cody murmured. "And that's at least a start, for the both of us. Mainly myself. Kajinara is sneaky, so maybe…" She pushed herself up. "Meta, I know you can't help being curious, but Kajinara likes her privacy. I'm not sure if you've dealt with anything like this, but until I can figure something out, or unless she says something to you personally, could I ask you to leave her alone? Kajinara won't hurt you in any way; once she gets the information she wants, I'm sure you'll never hear from her again. I can't really tell her not to spy on you because you'll be given away, but…" She sighed. "If only you knew what she wanted to know about you; then this would all be over. But, do we have a deal?"

Meta Knight was curious, yes. But he could understand Cody's plight—he wasn't even sure of what he'd do about anything. His original purpose was to find out why Kajinara had been spying on them, right? And he'd found that out—it was because of him. Meta Knight had no problem pondering all the possibilities of what could happen. But as soon as he gave Bandana Dee that answer, the next phrase would immediately be 'What? Why you?', and he knew that well enough.

 _Well, too bad, Bandana…I'd rather bide my time and save my dignity than pester someone like a whiny, unknowledgeable kid. I don't mind hypothesizing until I find fact._

The sapphire puffball offered his paw to her. "Of course I accept the deal."

Cody looked genuinely happy again. "Thank you. But…" She paused for a moment. "…by our standards, you'd barely be an adult…and I'm here threatening you like one…I'm sorry." She looked as if she genuinely felt like it. "Even most of my children are older or old as you…do you really have no family?"

Meta Knight shook his head. "I…No, I do not. Have any other family, that is."

The Dee's face softened. "In that case…maybe it would be better if Kajinara knew you after all…I sort of hope so; it might make her happier, and you as well. Meta, I have to go now; sorry for rushing…" She turned toward the tent door, and Meta Knight moved to hold it open for her. The action merited a positive acknowledgement from the Dee, or a smile, if she could. "If you ever need me for anything, just come talk to me. But, please stay out of Kajinara's business until she asks you. And it would be nice if you didn't eavesdrop on our private conversations for a while. Good day, Meta." She shook his paw as they both left the tent. "You're a very sweet child."

Cody walked off toward a different section, with another Dee coming up from behind him to replace her to watch the tents. It took little time before Meta Knight was left standing there, in the middle of several pitched tents with a few Waddle Dees.

 _I completed my goal…time to see if Bandana Dee's succeeded in his…_

* * *

"…so, thanks to Silva being the Distract-inator, I managed to keep Kajinara completely occupied without even having to ask. Luckily, Silva played her part pretty well; I didn't even have to tell her much info and she isn't letting anything slip. I guess that's the plus side of being an older sibling with a lot of respect on your shoulders." Bandana Dee leaned back against the sand.

The duo had returned to the beach, which had cleared up a bit since the campfires were being set up. Meta Knight merely glanced at him, unsure of how he wanted to tell his friend about his end of the trip. It almost sounded as if Bandana Dee's tougher job had been far more successful than his relatively easy task. Hm, maybe he could avoid his failure by getting a shocked reaction out of Bandana Dee. That tended to work a lot of times when he needed to avoid a messy situation, or simply wanted to get a reaction out of someone for kicks. Fortunately, he had a good idea, as Bandana Dee was just about finished talking.

"So…" Bandana Dee brightened up. "How was your talk with Cody? That probably went _way_ easier than mine."

"Good, except she threatened to kill me," Meta Knight stated nonchalantly. "You neglected to tell me _that_ part of the deal."

 _"_ _What?!"_ Bandana Dee almost fell over backwards, reeling from this information. Meta Knight had to hide his grin. He loved doing that to people. "Cody is the sweetest person in the tribe! You _sure_ you got her, and not someone else?"

"Positive. Though, how would I know?" Meta Knight shrugged, returning to his sober mood. "I don't know anybody around here too well besides your parents. I just asked a random Dee for Cody, and she said she was. She shares a tent with Kajinara, right?"

"Right…that's her tent…" Bandana Dee was thinking hard. "I don't think anybody else would pretend to be her…maybe I should ask—"

"Don't ask," Meta Knight interjected. "Then she'd know I told you, and I think that was part of the promise."

"What promise?" Bandana Dee perked up. "Tell me about what happened. How did you work her up to kill you?"

"We discussed some…sensitive information, potentially…" Meta Knight began.

"About who? Her, Kajinara, what?" Bandana Dee prompted.

"A little about Kajinara. Honestly, I don't think I know any more about her than I do when I went in. Cody wasn't going to give just anything out. I did get a few points on how to not send Kajinara off the deep end though, so at least that's something. It does not tell me _anything_ about why she's stalking us; Cody said that she herself is still working on that. We're back where we started. Why is there just no information on her?" Meta Knight flopped back on the sand, irritated. Bandana Dee glanced over at him.

"I told you, she's just that sort of Dee. If the chief doesn't know, how—"

"Wait a minute." The gears in Meta Knight's mind suddenly started to move. "She isn't the _oldest_ Dee in the tribe, right? Somebody has to know! I don't care how vague it is; they should at least be able to tell us something about—"

"About…?" Bandana Dee was confused as to why his friend suddenly dropped off.

"That's part of what Cody warned me about. She said not to ask about her family, or rehash the past. It must be a sensitive issue for her…"

"But still…" Bandana Dee tried to continue on his friend's previous train of thought. "A lot of the Dees around here would have grown up with her at the same time, or be a decade older, in Cody's case. I don't _think_ my parents know anything, and I don't think the chief's told anyone. If he introduces a new Dee, it's practically law that we accept them as an equal. We don't pry unnecessarily if it bothers them. But yeah…the chief _has_ to know about Kajinara; he and the elders are older than her by a significant amount. And, they're the ones who deal with all the issues of the tribe. If her parents died, the chief would know about that."

"Bandana, can we just drop this?" Meta Knight pushed impatiently. He was starting to become nervous from the idea of Bandana Dee poking too far and possibly giving them away. He wasn't even sure if he could trust himself, with a Dee or two stalking him. "I didn't come to your party to discuss why some girls are following me."

Bandana Dee gave him an odd look, which the sapphire puffball reciprocated when he realized what must have run through the Dee's head.

"Bandana, don't. Don't make any comments. And please, keep this under the table from Kirby and Dedede as well. I'm not in the mood for them to make jokes like that, either."

Meta Knight stood up, intending to walk away somewhere as a means of ending the conversation with Bandana Dee. He realized that he didn't know his way around, but at the very least, he hoped his friend would drop the subject if they came across the rest of the camp. "Let's get back to your family. I'm sure they would appreciate our help getting set up, you know."

The Dee moved to his feet, following him. "Um, Meta? You might wanna let _me_ lead…"

"Of course." The puff slowed so that his friend could lead. "Did the others move enough wood so that—"

"Yup; they got plenty. I think they even helped everyone set up. Silva was really thrilled; she got Kirby to make her a little wooden carving of a…well, whatever you guys are. Dedede wasn't that happy, but he didn't say anything. She wanted to wear his hat, so…"

Meta Knight was only listening to half of what his friend said at this point, noting Cody standing on the edge of camp. Bandana Dee didn't notice, but Cody caught the puff's eye and winked. Meta Knight winked back, inwardly moaning.

 _Out of all the Dees who had to know me here…_ _ **WHY**_ _do I get the mysterious one with the protective stalker?!_

"Meta? You there?"

The puffball blinked. "Huh? Yeah, I'm still here. I was just thinking about the bonfires. It got dark really quickly…"

Bandana Dee smirked. "Really? I bet you were thinking about the s'mores and the food, just like you were that time _we_ made a bonfire on our last adventure."

Meta Knight chose not to respond, mainly because he had no answer.

 _Ugh…at this point, what else could go wro—_

"OOF!"

Bandana Dee turned around to see Meta Knight and Reggie sprawled on the ground, the chef quickly picking himself back up and re-adjusting his hat.

"Shoot!" he squeaked. "Sorry Meta!"

Reggie quickly took off before anybody could say anything. Bandana Dee walked back over to the puff, staring down at him. "Uh…Meta? You need any help?"

Meta Knight ignored the colors dancing on the edges of his vision and pushed himself into a sitting position.

 _Okay, forget that. At this point, it would have been better if he knocked me out and I was still lying on the ground._

* * *

C/N: I'd say that talk with Cody was really productive, wouldn't you? You know it was. By the way, you'll find later in the story that her threats have complete potential to be valid. There's hints along the way, but for now, just pretend that her experience is due to her raising five children at once and watching Kajinara to boot. I'm sure Meta and Bandana weren't the first to try and figure her out by using Cody...

I'll snap out a question here real quick! This IS a longer story; I currently have almost 90,000 in words for it (and I still have plenty left to fill in, particularly post-climax material). I've been trying to break it up so that each chapter is 2000-5000 words long, as the original chapter divisions all ended well over the 10,000+ word mark. Also, I have a lot of material written for this (I generally know everything that will happen), so the update rate may change depending on how slow the internet is, and whether I run into a white space in the document (basically, break in story).

I was really surprised to see how quick you guys read this! Thanks for the reviews, you all.~

-ooo-

 _ **Indigo Puff:** Heheh, keep those in mind. If I was too specific, I might spoil something by accident...But in general, I don't like to include stuff unnecessarily if it's not useful later on; it's a general rule of writing for me. Or little details that mention past events; I'm a sucker for tying stuff up._

 _ **Meow:** You're welcome! I try to reply to reviews as best as I can, but I don't usually go back and answer questions on oneshots. It's a combination of how the site manages documents, and the word counts on the stories growing infinitely larger as time went on. Chaptered fics are fair game, though. :)_

 _I'm glad you like the details. I'm a very detail-oriented person, so I sometimes wonder if I've gone overboard. I'm still working on the warpstar theory, but yes, both Kirby and Meta collaborated. Also, the part with the Big Waddle Dees is something I hadn't thought of yet. For this story, they're a different species. (I haven't picked up a Kirby game outside the 3DS DLC in eons; wow, that brought back good GBA/DS memories...)_

 _Ah, here's Cos Pengi's **penguin** research. :) (I hope it's not been outdated...) Dedede is a penguin pretty similar to how the penguins are organized in reality-they aren't rare, but they don't live just anywhere. Unlike reality, the penguins that live in warm climates (the ones in the...Falkland Islands, was it? Off the coast of South America) are called 'Penguins', like Dedede. Penguins that live in colder-weathered climates (like the few that live in Antarctica) are called 'Pengis'. It's sort of a size-reversal as well, as I believe the Emperor penguins are largest, and they live in colder weather (and the Pengis are smaller than Dedede's kind). Both kinds of penguins can use magic, but I've not decided on any species-wide powers yet. Dedede's parents (or potentially ancestors) came from off-planet and settled in Dream Land because of its warm temperature. So Dedede isn't of a species directly native to Popstar, but still well-known, since the Pengi variants live on the planet and are part of the same category._

 _I wasn't the one to notice this first, but something cute is that penguins share their food mouth-to-mouth with their young, and that's the food-sharing method in the Kirby games~ No silverware? No problem!_

 _Ah yes; that rule does come in handy. I've revised chapter 11 at least six times by now; eep. I'll be mixing that cake batter in the background...any particular genre flavor you prefer? :)_


	8. (Family Bonfire) Without my Family

**Chapter 2, Part 3**

* * *

Meta Knight knew the general objective of having a bonfire—or, he at least had an educated guess. The purpose, he believed, was just a social tradition so that people could sit around and cook while they all talked, and there were multiple people to tell the cook that the food was burning. With the Dees, however, each person got to cook their food over the fire—simple foods, of course, like meat sticks or fruit—and determine how burnt or undercooked they each wanted it.

Meta Knight, being somewhat of a perfectionist, wanted his meat cooked like he would normally eat it, and he wasn't interested in roasting his fruit at all. This earned him a comment about being close-minded from Dedede, who almost always blackened all his campfire food on any fire, bonfire, or grill that he stumbled across. The king said that it made the food taste more real, or that the fire brought out the flavor, or that the 'black' part of the food tasted delicious. Meta Knight did not agree with this viewpoint at all; he argued that burning the food was a waste and that he'd scrape the blackened parts off even a piece of _toast_ any day of the week.

Kirby was relatively easy to please with his food—as long as there was no poison in it (that he couldn't digest), it was almost invariably a good dish. Perhaps it was because he'd eaten a vast amount of food as a child, compared to Meta Knight's diet of 'whatever's on the quick store's shelves'. The sapphire puffball preferred fruity candy over fruit, and had even turned down certain fruits from Kirby. This had earned him objections about finicky eating, but in Meta Knight's incredibly-stubborn mind, you weren't a finicky eater if your meals consisted of discount foods. There were some disagreements about his viewpoints, needless to say.

All food differences aside, Meta Knight realized that his traveling companions and himself did make up a well-balanced team. Kirby was the adaptable one who could fight all-around, Dedede was the stronger, heavy-lifter type, Bandana Dee could snipe and do melee as well, but…hm, what did he himself do? Though he specialized with his sword, there was no denying that, however short the time had been, he'd used copy abilities just like Kirby…

It had been fun. If it hadn't been for the fact that he had a reputation at stake now, he'd probably still use them, just for fun. But he quite enjoyed Galaxia; it could use a lot of magical snipery _and_ be used for close combat. Meta Knight enjoyed a balanced attack set as well, but he much preferred to get hit as little as possible. After seeing one of Dedede's pranks on Kirby, where the puff hadn't swallowed a fake food properly, Meta Knight was even less keen on using his natural powers. There may be a time where he could use them; he acknowledged that…but he'd been cut across the cheek once with a sword, and it had hurt. He had honestly expected it would have left a scar—at the very least, it could detract from his 'cute' look, but…he wasn't interested in going through that again. His species' bodies may not age very much, but they definitely weren't immune to injury, and Meta Knight didn't want to carry a critical injury through the rest of his possibly-infinite lifespan.

That was something he respected about Kirby. It wouldn't be a lie to say that a deep, dark part of him looked up to the pink puff, even though he was smarter and more responsible (or so he thought) than him. Kirby didn't hesitate to help a friend, or set off on an adventure…and he managed to avoid making several stupid decisions, even without the knowledge that his sapphire friend had. The pink puffball didn't even carry a weapon, most of the time, and he wore no protective gear, and he rarely had a bad dream, and he mastered pretty much anything almost as soon as he got it, fighting-oriented or not. Not to mention that he was incredibly optimistic, making his way through times that Meta Knight would have internally sulked through. He wasn't invincible, of course; Kirby had his weaknesses…But everybody did, and it wasn't his weaknesses that Meta Knight envied—it was his strengths.

…Being honest, Kirby was a really great source of motivation for the blue puffball. Particularly when it came time to go on an adventure after lazing around for half a year. But even taking that secret respect for Kirby into account, puffballs were still _highly_ competitive by nature. Therefore, the Dees and the king should have taken notice when both puffballs had their eye on the last chocolate bar left by the bonfire. Food could turn adorable, friendly puffs of sunshine-y happiness into violent weapons of mass destruction, and their violence didn't exclude fellow members of their species.

"I never realized it, but you two really complement each other. His eyes are blue—" Leaf pointed to Kirby. "—and Meta's the same shade of blue, almost. And Kirby is light pink, and Meta's eyes are white. Isn't that odd? You could be twins; Meta's just a little taller."

"It wasn't always like that. Kirby used to be really short." Meta Knight smirked, jumping off his seat and seizing the opportunity to get closer to the chocolate bar. He was confident that Kirby wouldn't notice his strategic edge until it was too late. "When Kirby first landed here, he was only three inches tall!"

"Nah-ah!" Kirby leapt up as well. "I was at least _half_ your height; maybe ever two-thirds! Your feet were just bigger, and you always stand on tiptoe. I bet it's because you didn't want me to think you were short." The puff grinned. Unfortunately, Meta Knight took actual insult to the comment. Height accusations, no matter how well-meant they happened to be, never set off a good chord with the puff. And to add that, both of them had a shot at that chocolate now, and they _knew_ that. Things weren't going to end well.

"I deny that. I—"

"Guys, guys…" Bandana Dee waved his hands, suddenly noticing the candy bar. "You're both unreasonable! First, there's no _way_ Kirby could be three inches tall; he'd be practically nonexistent! I thought _he_ was a little smaller than a Waddle Dee, and _you_ were a little taller when you stood up right!"

His point went unheard to the puffballs, who had already started wrestling each other. The height issue was still carried as the excuse for the dispute, but the real reason the duo had went down was because Meta Knight had swiped the candy bar. Of course, Meta Knight was still upset over the teasing, so letting Kirby just have the chocolate and quitting the argument was out of the question at this point.

"You can't get out of this just 'cause your mom had time-warping abilities," Meta Knight gasped, tugging on the likely-melted candy bar. Apparently, neither of them had noticed that Silven had left to get a _full_ box of them, and puffballs weren't fans of giving up food to potential competitors—Meta Knight especially, considering he'd taken on a member of his species who was more than a century older than him solely so he could kill a monster on their territory. The injuries he'd sustained just to get to a draw hadn't been worth killing the monster for. "Sword-elements have that advantage, you know! For all we know, you could've just _warped_ your body to adulthood; you're sword-elemental yourself!"

"I don't cheat like that! And I don't tell people that I'm older than I am just because I got the title of 'knight'!"

"It's a cultural custom, Kirby! Any time you become a knight, you're instantly promoted to adulthood! I was a strategist at the age of ten, Kirby; who _cares_ how old I was then?"

"Meta, can we eat no—"

In a second, the two puffballs were separated from each other, a paw gripping each of their backs. Their holder placed Meta Knight back next to Bandana Dee, and Kirby between his parents. Meta Knight quickly searched for who could possibly break the two strongest star warriors apart with no effor—

 _Oh shoot…It's Cody! I_ _ **knew**_ _there was a reason why I didn't underestimate her. She just yanked us apart like it was nothing and she only had a paw on each of us!_ _ONE PAW!_

"Let's not get violent, you two," she suggested calmly. "Unless it was something _more_ than a petty argument?"

Both puffballs shook their heads, cheeks heating up at seeing the full box of chocolate bars and other goodies that Silva was dancing around with her father. Feeling more than a little guilty about the childish dispute, Meta Knight picked up the discarded chocolate bar and walked back over to Kirby, hoping that the others wouldn't notice the childish gesture.

Kirby squealed, let out a happy 'poyo!', dumped the unwrapped bar in his mouth, and pulled the wrapper out. Meta Knight nodded sheepishly and walked back to his spot. Fortunately, nobody was sitting next to him…except perhaps Silva, in a little while.

"Hello, you all." A twinge of worry nested itself in Meta Knight's stomach upon seeing who sat down on the log next to him, which felt rather unpleasant considering his stomach was a black hole. At this closer distance, he noticed that Cody was wearing a yellow knit cap. She handed a similar cap to Silva, except it was ice blue. "Hello, Silva. I'm sorry I couldn't find any sapphire."

"That's okay." Silva seemed only slightly disappointed. "My brother and the puffy are here; they'll do!"

"Ah, I see." Cody cast her glance to Meta Knight. Her face gave no clues as to whether this action was good or bad—perhaps she was just observing him. "Yes, the puffies are very nice, aren't they?"

"Mmmhm!" Silva nodded very forcefully. "I love puffies; they're so cool! And they're so soft; have you felt them? It's like touching a cloud, but even softer…" She jumped up suddenly and started bouncing up and down. "Mmm, I LOVE PUFFIES!"

"Ah, I see…" Cody paused, waiting for the child to stop jumping. Meta Knight could only wonder what she was going to ask nex— "…Did you take any research notes on them?"

Meta Knight sincerely hoped his face hadn't paled any.

"I don't know that much about the puffies now, so it would be unfair practice to show my notes to you. But if I ever finalize them, maybe I'll let you see them! The puffies are super cool. Did you know they're magic, like big brother's spear? They can eat stuff, even stupid stuff, and they can make magic out of it! And everyone says they look like us, but more colorful! And they don't have any fur. Isn't that weird? I…"

At this, the two puffballs felt an odd twinge in their stomachs. The duo glanced at each other briefly, knowing they were thinking the same thing.

 _'_ _They're like us'…But there's none of our species left. The Waddle Dees_ _ **would**_ _be the closest thing we had to family…_

Meta Knight noticed Kirby's face falling, and he quickly tried to think of something to cheer the pink puff back up. He tried smiling at him, but Kirby wasn't really paying attention to anyone anymore.

 _Wow…it…it hit him harder than I thought…_

 _No…maybe he's just thinking like I did…He knows his parents are dead, probably because they were trying to protect him, and he doesn't even remember them. In a way, isn't that…kind of worse than not knowing where you came from at all?_ _I'd feel pretty guilty if that was—_

"Meta?"

The sapphire puffball—and Kirby, too—snapped out of his thoughts and turned toward Bandana Dee. "Yes?"

"See, they're white again." Bandana Dee stared him in the eyes. "Were you thinking about something?"

 _Huh? Oh, yeah…_ "Let me guess—did my eyes change color?" They _did_ feel a bit weird…He was never quite sure why they did that.

"See, they always turn green when he's thinking. Well, not all the time though…" Bandana Dee rubbed the side of his head. "…but at least it's a helpful giveaway. I think blue means he ate something sugary."

"Why bother asking me?" Meta Knight had been about to reach for a chocolate bar, but stopped at the thought. "It's not like I can see what color they turn or when."

Silva had an extra notepad that she was scratching on…Hopefully Cody wouldn't ask to see it. But at least if she thought blue meant 'sugar', she might give him some cookies. "That's cool, puffy! Do the pink puffy's eyes change?"

"I've seen them turn blue, but they could just be lighting up," Meta Knight commented. "I know our species' eyes can light up, maybe from adrenaline or something. I'm not a biologist."

He could have smacked himself upon hearing the words come out of his mouth. _Of all the things to say, Meta…_

"But **_I am!"_** Silva cheered ecstatically. "Oh boy, puffy; I'm gonna solve a biology mystery!"

 _Metaaaa, why did you SAY that?!_

"Silva! You left your hot dog stick in those rocks? I told you to be careful with it!" Leaf quickly moved over to the fire and plucked Silva's skewer out of the stones around the bonfire. "There, now it's safe. Do you want me to cook it a little longer, or is this good?"

"Mama cook it all around?" Silva requested.

Leaf would have smiled if she could have. "Certainly, Silva. You've done a good job on it so far."

"Thank you, mama! I love my family!" Silva's expression made up for the fact that she couldn't grin, and she turned to the quartet. "What are you guys' families like?"

Bandana Dee and his family had no way to predict that she would say this, and therefore, no real way to reprimand her before the king and the puffballs heard these trigger words. Their reactions were almost instantaneous—all of them slackened, Dedede sighed, Kirby frowned, and the gears in Meta Knight's mind started to turn as to how he would phrase his answer.

"M-Maybe that was a bad question, Silva…" Bandana Dee started nervously. Even Cody looked uneasy, but nobody else said anything. Talking about loss of a family member was a hard subject; to the Dees, it was equivalent to a 'special maturity talk'. If it came up here…hopefully Silva wouldn't get a bad idea. "You know, my friends—"

"It's okay, Bandana Dee." Meta Knight held up a paw. "She didn't know."

Dedede's expression genuinely fell after a few extra seconds, a rare occasion for the stubborn king. He stared into the fire as he answered. "Yeah. _My_ parents…well…They're gone. They died from a highly-contagious illness when I was young. They sent me away to some other castle near Prism Plains, and I didn't know what happened until after they were gone. I was so mad…that they never bothered saying goodbye me, but I still really missed them, you know? It took a while to hit me that they were really gone." He straightened up and stared at Silva, a small smirk on his face. "You Waddle Dees take care of me now. The ones that worked with me in the later years were pretty quiet, though. I'll never get that. But hey, at least since I was an only child, I never had to worry about anyone else taking the crown from me. Not that I'd let them win, of course." He glanced at Kirby, who was sticking a marshmallow on his pole. "Eh, my story time's done. Your turn."

Kirby blinked, face blank. "I…I don't remember my parents besides a few cloudy memories. But I know…I went back to my planet once; you guys went with me. We only stopped for a little, but…I found something about my mom, thanks to some magic…She was a really good soldier; she was on the Strato Patrol, which was this super-elite fighting group that protected the planet." He grinned happily. "Ever since I found that out, I made it my mission to be just as cool and mature as she was! I don't know anything about my dad, though; I guess I'll find out about him eventually."

The pink puff turned to Meta Knight, sticking the marshmallow in his mouth. He hummed in delight. "O'hay, yo' turn."

"Um…well…huh…" The blue puff crossed his arms and closed his eyes, thinking harder. All memories related to this subject were incredibly hazy; he couldn't remember anything besides the GSA—wait, something… "I…might remember something blue? But they weren't my parents; I know that much. I don't know anything else about…well, me. Where I came from, or who my family is; it's a complete blank." He opened his eyes again. "I remember being able to work when I was about six; nobody would let me fight any younger than that. Then a bunch of stuff happened, and it doesn't relate to family at all. So…I guess I don't have any…"

Silva appeared to be quite a bit shocked, but…still able to handle what she was hearing. "Puffies…Pengi…" She turned to her parents, and then to Cody. "Mama, Papa, _you've_ gotta know where their parents are, right?"

Clearly, she knew that they didn't; her face said as much. But the little Dee couldn't help but want some theory or explanation to believe, with such gaping holes in—to her—an almost unbreakable structure for life.

"Silva…" The Dee's mother placed her paw on her shoulder. "It's very rare, but not everybody gets to live in a family like we do. That's what happens when people get involved in wars, or when wars target things. That's why we chose to stay peaceful, remember? War isn't good."

"But…the puffies' families…" The child was clearly upset. "Who will be the puffies' mama and papa? Where will they get brother and sister puffies from?"

"Silva…" Cody spoke up, her tone of voice changing to her more maternal one. "The puffies may not have any family like we do, but sometimes, people will take in children who don't have any family, even if they aren't the same species. Then, those children become their children, and if they had any kids before then, they'd be brothers and sisters. Like if your mama and papa took them in, or if I did. Then they'd be your brothers, or brothers to Canto and Kyoji and Sara and all of them."

Silva thought about this for a long moment. "…But they weren't their family."

"A family is the people who love and care about you." Cody kept her peaceful expression. "That's why we are _all_ family in this tribe, because we love each other. If somebody loves the puffies like you love your mama and papa and Bandana Dee, then they could be their family, too."

Silva tilted her head. "That sounds kinda like a friend. What's the difference, then?"

"They're very similar." Cody began to pet the little Dee's head. "But usually, family are the people who are related to you, or took someone in because they wanted them to be family. Friends could be so close they're family, sometimes."

Silva looked incredibly confused. "How do you tell which is which?"

"You'll learn eventually, Silva." Cody patted the Dee's head. "But most of the time, family are related to each other, except like in the puffies' case."

"I think…I understand…" The Dee child had grasped at least part of it. "I'm still confused."

"Don't think too hard on it tonight," Cody laughed. "We need some s'mores now!"

"S'mores?" Instantly, the quartet members perked up, Bandana Dee being less affected than the others. Kirby and Dedede's eyes met in a staring contest. Clearly, the duo's food rivalry was not to be forgotten.

Bandana Dee picked up on this quickly. "Guys, let's settle this peacefully; you both get the same!"

"As long as he doesn't get more than me," Dedede grumbled. Kirby merely cheered.

Meta Knight pondered his answer. S'mores…three layers of various kinds of sugar, all of which he savored…Eating more than three supposedly made normal people sick; that was how many he'd have—just to be safe. "I guess I'll have a few…"

"A few?" Bandana Dee whipped around to face the blue puffball. "A few? Are you kidding me? You're gonna have as many as you want, Meta, or I'll…I'll force-feed you, or something. I can tell you want way more than a few."

The blue puffball was clearly annoyed. "What—oh, I see. Just because I look like Kirby, you think I'm gonna eat the same as him. This is why I don't tell anybody I look like him. I have self-control."

"But do you still want more than a few?" Bandana Dee pressed.

Meta Knight crossed his arms and looked off to the side. "Duh, who _wouldn't_ want more than a few?"

"Not me," Dedede answered. "Have too many s'mores and you get this weird feeling in your stomach, and then—"

"Yes, yes, we know," Bandana Dee cut him off.

Kirby turned toward the king. "Are you sure it's not just _you_ who feels weird? Nobody I've talked to ever mentions _that_ , poyo."

"Can it, puff-n-stuff!" Dedede roared. "You can't doubt your king!"

Meta Knight sighed. "Let's eat, guys."

When neither party listened, he kicked Kirby's foot. The pink puff quieted, and when Dedede realized that nobody was bothering to argue with him, he quickly dropped the subject.

 _Hm, I guess I was right about what a bonfire was…_ The sapphire puffball mainly listened to the adults chatting, with Silva or one of his friends jumping in at times. True to his guesses, Dedede blacked most of his food. _It's not that bad. Silva gets to talk some with Bandana Dee, at least…and holy NOVA, at least Cody's leaving soon…_

The sapphire puffball reached into the bag of marshmallows and made himself another s'more. Silva had attempted to count how many everybody had eaten, but eventually gave up. Meta Knight was fairly certain he'd made more than thirty at this point, but he didn't particularly care. At least Dedede and Kirby were still eating; that way he didn't have to worry about being the only one still snacking.

He did have to confess—he was eating too many s'mores. It really did nothing to revitalize his tired brain or his body, much to his dismay, because it did have _some_ effect on him—

Bandana Dee nearly choked on his graham cracker. "What the heck, Meta? Are you okay? It's like your whole body twitched or something!"

"It isn't the sugar—" The sapphire puffball yawned before eating another s'more, hoping to keep himself awake. "…otherwise I'd be more awake than I am…"

"If you say so…" Bandana Dee shrugged. "I think you've had too much of a good thing."

Kirby and Dedede snickered.

Despite his restraint, Meta Knight couldn't help but shudder—or, as Bandana Dee put it, _twitched_ —as he reached for another candy bar and some marshmallows. To his surprise, the graham crackers had vanished. He glanced up in confusion, wondering who could have possibly taken them.

Silva was shoving graham crackers in her invisible mouth, despite having filled up a while ago.

 _Oh yes. Little kids love graham crackers._

It briefly crossed his mind that he liked graham crackers, as well. _And also some adults who like the nicely-cooked, possibly-cinnamon-sprinkled ones, too._

* * *

"Hey…Meta…"

The sapphire puffball turned to Bandana Dee, half asleep. He had no idea what time it was, but Silva had already been led off to bed, and Cody had left a while ago to meet with her own family—but not without winking at him again, which just made him more likely to cast a glance over his shoulder for her. This was certainly earlier than he'd normally feel tired, but there had been a lot more involved in the past two days to wear him out. He wondered if maybe the Dees wouldn't mind him sleeping next to the fire…He didn't stand heat well, but at this distance away, it was tolerably warm.

Also, if he was attacked, maybe he could throw the person into the fire.

"Yeah, Bandana…?" The puff rubbed at his eyes. "What is it?"

"Um…well…" The Dee looked somewhat guilty. "You know, I'm sorry about Silva asking personal questions…I never saw that question coming, and I wanted to be sure that you weren't upset or anything. She doesn't mean to be—"

"Don't worry, Bandana." Meta Knight held up his paw. "She's a kid. A _smart_ kid, but still a kid. She was just curious, and besides…all you guys have family; how was she supposed to know any better?"

"I guess you're right, but still, that must have been awkward…" Bandana Dee shifted uncomfortably. "I know…Well, I didn't know that you don't know _anything_ about your family…"

"Well, no, not really." The puff leaned back slightly. "Maybe I'm just overlooking something I know anyway. But I've never been told about my family—well, before I took the name 'Meta Knight', anyway. The point is, when I asked as myself, I didn't get very useful answers. Nobody knew anything, or they did, but they just left vague suggestions. But really, doesn't Kirby have it worse than me? I mean, for all I know, I could be some sort of orphan, yes…But, I could also be some sort of experiment from somewhere, or somebody's pet, maybe. I hope not for that last one. Maybe I was just a demon beast, but I don't remember from injury or something…" Though his voice held a normal, logical tone, his face clearly showed that he was upset over the matter. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what I am; I'm me. That's enough for me to get by in life. I have no need to pity myself over it—like I said, Kirby knows his parents could have died in front of him…isn't that kind of a worse fate, in some ways?"

Bandana Dee blinked, unsure of whether there was any correct answer to this at all. "Well, I don't really care whose story is more tragic; both of you know next to nothing on what happened to your parents. Did Kirby's parents _really_ die protecting him?"

Meta Knight shrugged. "There's no way of knowing. Anybody who would know is almost guaranteed to be dead. I was just speculating."

"Then you can't diss your parents just because of a speculation. I may be wrong, but I think you're saying that your parents weren't as good as Kirby because _his_ parents—or, one of them—was an elite fighter and time traveler, and you respect her, so you think that she died heroically protecting Kirby, so his parents were better than yours." The Dee's eyes narrowed. "I really don't think you're an experiment. There's just no way. I—"

"Hey guys…" Kirby appeared from around a tent, and the duo quickly dropped their conversation. The pink puffball yawned. "You guys got any marshmallows…?"

Meta Knight cast a glance at the empty marshmallow bag. "I think you ate them all…"

"Awwww…" Kirby frowned playfully. "There's gotta be more, Meta!"

" _Don't_ —Be careful that you don't call me that when we leave here." The sapphire puffball crossed his arms. "I do have a title, and I had to work to get it."

"Don't worry, Meta!" Kirby chirped, not realizing his own irony. "I'll make sure to remember that!"

 _Well, at least that wouldn't be the most of your problems…That would only make Kirby look immature, luckily enough._

"Hey, Bandana…" Meta Knight ventured. "Where are we going to sleep tonight?"

The Dee blinked. "Oh shoot! Thank you, Meta! Okay, I've got an empty tent or two for tonight for you guys…" He turned to the pink puffball. "Kirby, do you want to go on to bed? You could sleep with Silva and me, if you wanted; we have some extra room."

Kirby's eyes literally lit up. "Sure! That sounds fun, as long as I get to make a nest!" The puffball grabbed his friend's paw. "Can we go, Bandana? Can we go; can we go?"

"Um, Meta, do you mind…?" The Dee tried his best to put on a pitiful expression. "I'll be right back."

"Sure, go ahead."

Bandana Dee returned relatively quickly from escorting Kirby to (a very thrilled) Silva, only to find the puff snacking on an extra, hidden bag of marshmallows. "Hmmmmmm, looks like there WAS another bag of marshmallows…"

"Not anymore." Meta Knight moved the now-empty bag to the side. "I was saving these, you know…"

"Haha." Bandana Dee would have smirked if he could have. "Naughty. But, anyway…" He sat down next to the puffball, trying to be serious again. "I don't think you're an experiment or anything, Meta…Like you said at the beginning, you don't know _what_ happened. Don't blame yourself or think your parents didn't want you. There are species out there that _die_ after they give birth to their offspring. I know you guys probably don't have a species like that, but you know, things could be a lot worse…"

"Yeah, I know," the puff murmured, before opening his eyes all the way and sitting up straight. "I just…I've always been envious of people with full families, or at least, people who knew their parents and what they were like. Dedede, and even Kirby—they know more than I do, and I've traveled _far_ more places than they have. They both really respect their parents and look up to them—and you Dees are all about family members. I'd…I'd really like to know where I came from, or what happened to my parents or creators. I'm not getting any answers, or even any hints. I dunno…Maybe it's not all that important to know about my parents if they're dead anyway."

Bandana Dee had no idea what he should say. "Meta…"

The sapphire puffball jumped onto his feet. "Oh, but I'm not a big fan of being whiny. I'm just a little…frustrated, I suppose you could say. I'd really like to find out where I came from, so I know what exactly to tell people. Right now on my papers, I just have to mark myself as a space orphan." The puff smirked. "Isn't that just ironic? I suppose all those papers will be wrong, if I turn out to be an experiment…Maybe I shouldn't look for an answer after all!"

"Um, Meta—"

"Nope." The puff shook his head. "Let's not discuss this tonight. Did you get Dedede set up yet?"

"Uh, no, but…I…You seemed really unhappy about your family…" The Dee shifted on his feet nervously.

Meta Knight offered his paw to the wanderer. "Well, Bandana…thanks for worrying about me. Thank you. Do you need any help finding Dedede?"

The question was more out of politeness than out of necessity—Dedede easily towered over the Dees, even lying down. Bandana Dee shook his head. "No thanks, Meta. But once I come back, I'll get you set up, okay? Or you can go scope around and see if there are any extra tents, while you're waiting."

"Sounds great." He took a seat by the fire despite this. "I may do that in a little while…"

Meta Knight yawned as Bandana Dee walked off. This place was more fun than he thought it would be, and he even got to eat some good food instead of the stash of fake cheese crackers he had in his closet. Plus, all the Dees were so kind to him that he almost forgot how many people hated his species. Tomorrow he'd get to go down to the beach or the forest and wander around for a while—with some snacks, if he was lucky, which was pretty likely. The only thing he'd have to worry about would be who he'd have to share his tent with, and that didn't really matter much as long as he had enough room for his sleeping mat. The puff let a smile flicker across his face, staring into the fire. It was nice and quiet out here by himself…

…Perhaps he could pick up anything around the fire? There had to be something he could do to help while he was waiting. Meta Knight got up, slowly circling around the fire while he smoothed the sand out and pushed rocks or logs back into place.

"Excuse me, do you have a moment?" a voice called softly, yet with a clear tone of authority.

Meta Knight turned around. "Ye—s…"

 _Uh oh._

* * *

C/N: (Edited) Cos WILL reply later, after her humongous, worrisome calculus exam. Ouch; I feel sick over it...Things have just been stressful lately, so things may be a little late...

But anyway! Credit to I'mWishingforaStarRod for unintentionally inspiring Dedede's backstory! I didn't really think about it until I was writing this, but...y'know, since he's KING when we see him, his parents being dead at that time is pretty much a given (unless he ran away or something and they never could find him). Also explains why he doesn't have any siblings. Another interesting piece along those lines is that we only see him wearing his red cap; I don't believe we ever see him with a proper crown or anything. I like playing with that; you may see it later.

MORE trivia; Meta's eyes flash white when he asks for his wish in KSSU, and Kirby's eyes flash blue occasionally on the map screen for Mass Attack. So for convenience, it's a species-wide thing for puffs' eyes to glow or change, depending on mental/environmental stimulus or atmospheric conditions. Not very important in-story, but I like trivia~

I can't offer any cookies for this, but guess who Meta just ran into.


	9. A Debate with the Scout

**FRC9: A Debate with the Scout**

* * *

 _Shoot. If both she_ _ **and**_ _Cody ask me why I was spying on them, I'm off to a horrible start in this place._

Being an adorable puffball, Meta Knight did have the advantage of looking cute and innocent when he needed a convincing façade. But this was the last person he'd been prepared to deal with, and he didn't know what sort of equally-convincing excuses he needed to create to back up said façade. Why couldn't people just let teenage puffballs spy on them? It would have made his life so much easier if he'd had more chances to eavesdrop on her.

 _You call yourself a knight? Stop thinking about stupid things like that and greet her like the mature, refined adult that you almost are._

Meta Knight offered his paw to the Dee in front of him, trying his best to keep smiling at her. He'd really had enough socialization for one day, but this was a Dee that he needed to leave a good impression on…especially considering that she barely talked with her own tribemates. What could she possibly want with _him?_

"My name is Meta—well, nickname, actually. Computers can't pronounce my real name very well. It's nice to meet you."

The Dee accepted the gesture and shook his paw politely. "My name's Kajinara; it's nice to meet you as well, Meta. Though, this may seem weird, but…" She inspected him a bit more closely, reluctantly releasing his paw. "Your name wouldn't happen to be Mikaru Ponyo, would it?"

Despite his best efforts, the smile on the puff's face vanished for a few seconds.

 _Crap. The last time someone said my name was right before I was dragged into a biomedical facility, sedated, and forced to fight for an ancient computer, and the time before that was when I'd been hospitalized after my ruined graduation party…so hypothetically, this is about to suck._

"Um… _maybe?"_ Meta Knight's wings twitched, and he tried to suppress a shudder of fear. If the Dee was actually dangerous, letting her know that he felt threatened simply wouldn't do. "…How…do you know that name?"

Much to his surprise, the Dee seemed…almost _saddened_ by that question.

"Nowhere important. It was a while ago," she answered quietly, dragging her feet in the sand. "I saw someone with that name who looked exactly like you—sort of. I just thought I'd ask. They're probably dead by now, anyways."

Now that Meta Knight looked closer, the scout's outfit was somewhat different than the rest of the Dees'. Her feet were bound in metal strap-sandals similar to the ones he wore himself, and someone had knit a dark-orange wristband that she wore on her left paw. Unlike all the other Dees, however, she wore an almost transparently-ice-blue headdress similar to a cape, and she was chocolate brown instead of bright orange like the other Dees. And from the firelight he had, she…

…almost seemed _familiar_ to him.

 _"I'd like to talk to one of them in particular…I need to tell him this…But it isn't the sort of information people would like to hear."_

 _"Can't you please tell us about it?"_

 _"No, I-I can't. I don't want to discuss it right now."_

"But, Mikaru?"

The sapphire puff blinked, his expression one of neutral curiosity. "Yes?"

"Can I ask you something? Nothing too important, just…something I was curious about." The Dee shuffled her feet in the sand, but other than that, she barely moved, even to breathe. Not wanting to be outmatched in terms of acting strange, Meta Knight remained stock-still himself.

"Of course. What were you curious about?" the puffball asked.

 _Where have I seen her before?_

 _I know that I've met her; it's just_ _ **where**_ _and when that's the problem…_

It felt like he should know the answer to that, but he just couldn't pull what he needed out of the back of his mind.

"Did…" The scout straightened up, looking him in the eyes. "Did you mean what you said earlier? When you said you were curious about learning things about your past…Would you really look for answers even if you knew it might be bad, or would you rather leave it a mystery and create your own story about where you came from?"

The Dee rubbed her eyes, hesitating for a moment. The ocean breeze blew her headdress around her, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Trust me. I know a lot of things about my past that I wish I could forget, and some of them, I—I didn't even have to search for. Would you rather know for a fact that horrible things were true, or would you rather _assume_ that horrible things were true, and just leave them as speculations? Thinking something is one thing, but living with reality is a whole other topic." Kajinara grabbed an edge of her headdress in her paw and pulled it around her. "I was just curious…Which would you pick? If you can't change the past, would you rather know the truth and cause yourself a lot of pain and suffering? Or would you rather leave the topic alone, and live pain-free, but without knowing what really happened?"

Meta Knight blinked, frowning. "I…"

He had to think this over for a moment. Why was she asking him this? Even if she'd overheard him, what would she need to know that for? There was no way she could've known anything about his past; besides, it was a riddle…wasn't it? She couldn't _really_ know anything, could she? How _could_ she know? Or was she asking just as an opinion poll of sorts…?

 _I know everyone in Dream Land is weird, including myself, but this is still getting a bit too weird._

Though, he was curious. What harm could answering her questions be anyway? He was a star child and a species of rare space guardians, too. Surely, if she threatened (or blackmailed) him later, he'd have no problem _disputing matters_ with her.

Besides, she seemed nice enough, despite what Bandana Dee had told him. Maybe creepy or suspicious to the average person, but he was Meta Knight. Motionlessly staring at people for hours was _mature_ to him, not creepy or suspicious.

 _Still, is she asking this to test how mature I am? A philosophical answer is probably the best, just to be safe._

"I…I'd want the truth," the puffball answered steadily, despite how tired he was. Every second that passed was getting closer to an ungodly hour of the morning, and he didn't like carrying on important philosophical debates at 4 AM. "No matter what happened, I think—or believe that the truth is precious."

"Are you sure?" The Dee seemed uneasy with that answer, pulling her headdress a little tighter around herself. "You mean…You'd rather know for a fact that all your disappointments and fears were real, rather than not having anything confirmed at all? I…To put that into perspective, you could be watching an undesirable _theory_ become an undesirable _reality_ ; keyword 'real.' If you're OCD and think of every possible theory, you know that one of them will be real and true, right? So would you really be okay with that? Even if nobody _needed_ to know that truth?"

"Why wouldn't I? It's real, isn't it?" The puff gave her a small smile, trying to reassure her. "I mean, you can't deny reality forever. I'll admit, there are things I wish I could forget, but they made me who I am today. And I know that some things are better left unsaid, but…" He shrugged, the smile turning into a grin. "I'm curious. To be fair to everyone, I like to base my judgments on the truth, even when there's no point in knowing it."

The scout crossed her paws, letting go of the headdress. "Well, that's a pretty good reason…for a kid. It's nice to know you have a mature perspective on things."

Meta Knight internally cheered at the compliment.

"But out of curiosity, you said you were an orphan, right? So seriously speaking, there's a lot of open ground for things to go wrong there," the Dee hinted, unwilling to let the argument go.

"Well, being left in outer space, I assume the worst that could happen was that I was potentially a monster, failed experiment, some trigger to an ancient prophecy or doomsday device, or a reject orphan that had problems so bad that his parents abandoned him. All of which have been backstories for protagonists in novels, and most of which have been survivable by said protagonists…excluding any extra despair and trouble brought onto them by that." Meta Knight smiled, thinking back to the novels he used to read as a child. "I think anything is possible to endure or survive, with the right technique and determination."

There was a slight flicker of emotional indecisiveness on the Dee's face, but it was so brief that the puff wondered whether he'd imagined it. Regardless of whether his brain was tricking him, the female Dee did take a bit longer to answer him.

"…I see." She closed her eyes for a moment, briefly turning away from him…though only a few seconds passed before she was staring him down again. Then, much to the puff's surprise, he could swear he heard her laugh.

"You know, I would say the same thing, even today. It's nice that someone else agrees with me on that opinion—something we have in common, you know?" The Dee relaxed, and Meta Knight knew from experience with Dees that she'd be smiling if she could. "The truth is precious, Mikaru. I'm glad you remember that much. Even if it hurts, it's still reality, like you said. I suppose it's something that everyone has to face someday—well, not always. But even then… _you_ would stand by your choice, right?"

"Of course."

The Dee shrugged, letting go of her headdress. For some reason, she seemed almost annoyed now. "Well, my choice isn't always the best choice on that sort of thing, so I can't say I didn't warn you to think about that."

Meta Knight frowned, getting ready to pull Galaxia out of his mouth in case the shift in her voice was an indication that he was about to be attacked.

"But, I don't want to pressure you or force your decisions. Just keep what I've said in mind when you do things. I'd recommend you really _think_ about that sort of choice. Even if you manage to find the truth…some things are best left undisturbed." The Dee crossed her paws, resuming her motionless stance.

"I do think things through; more carefully than most do. It's…my job, and my role with my friends." What was her expression now? Was she…Did she find that _funny_? Meta Knight reconsidered what he had to say, but continued when he saw no adverse reaction from the Dee. Of course, he got no other reaction at all from her, which he wasn't sure was any better. "But, why offer _me_ that advice?"

Should he add 'When you don't even know me' to that? The whole conversation had been prompted from her asking him about his past, and whether he was willing to face up to it if it was—presumably—terrible. It was probably safe to assume that she knew at least _something_ about him…particularly if she knew his name.

 _That's right…She knows my name. It's not on file anywhere in the kingdom; how would she get it without going off-planet…and how would she even connect it to_ _ **me**_ _, when I've been going by 'Meta Knight' for all these years? Is it just out of coincidence? Even Kirby didn't make the connection that I was the same species as him, but maybe the Dees would pay more attention._

 _…_ _no. She knows me, somehow. She said she's heard of me; that has to be significant. She wouldn't be wasting both of our time asking me all these questions about my past if she could care less, or didn't know anything related to it._

 _But what if I_ _ **am**_ _a monster? What if she thinks I'm dangerous, and a threat to the tribe and my companions? Haltmann Works said there was something odd about my genetics…Maybe I don't want to know after all. It would still be useful to know, though, even if it were just for health or magic-related issues. No being a coward, Meta—you have to find out what she knows._

Only the sound of the dying fire followed his question. The scout seemed almost frozen in time, completely silent. Puff and Dee stared at each other motionlessly, the intensity in their eyes amplified by the growing moonlight.

"…I've lost almost everything from my past, Mikaru. It doesn't matter much to _me_ anymore, since there's nothing left of it. That's the truth." She flicked her paw, her headdress billowing in the wind before falling completely flat…as if there were no breeze at all. "But for you? The—The people who care about you would probably like you to make a choice in the matter, instead of blindly pursuing what others have done before you. Especially since yours may affect you quite a bit more than mine. You seem smart. I know you'll make a good choice."

"Thank you. I understand."

The Dee and the puffball stood in their places for what seemed like an eternity, both trying to remain as calm and emotionless as possible while still getting their point across. Considering the experience that Meta Knight had with this sort of thing, they could be there a while. A _very long_ while, to be precise.

 _Wow, I never realized how strange it looks to stare at someone for so long until someone stared at me like that. Maybe I shouldn't do that as frequently as I do. Really, though…Why is she so determined to make that point? What does she know about me that could be so significant?_

 _"_ _Nothing too important," apparently…But that's 'nothing too important' to HER, not me! She must have been smart enough to plan out what she wanted to say here; my answers are mainly yes-or-no, so it wouldn't be too hard to think of a response to any of them. Maybe my wish that the rest of Dream Land would do things strategically like I do wasn't such a good wish after all._

 _And why bother hiding things behind vague questions? Granted, that_ _ **is**_ _still a very smart move, but how bad…_

 _No, stop right there, Meta. Don't you DARE say 'how bad could it be?'; that's a HORRIBLE thing to say when you're a star child!_

Being mature couldn't stop him from being curious about what the Dee had to say. The puff's problem was how to approach her. But judging by the fact that the Dee was still staring at him, Meta Knight thought it was fairly safe to assume that the scout wasn't planning on telling him much information. In past experience, that usually gave his cue to start stalking people and eavesdropping on them, but in this case, it would probably be quite a bit more difficult, especially in broad daylight with a hundred or so Dees around. Granted, if the information she was withholding really _was_ insignificant he should have nothing to worry about, but that would take away his advantage of knowing everything. Meta Knight very much liked strategic advantages and was not about to give them up without at least some fight.

 _Begging for information is_ _ **absolutely**_ _out of the question—well, maybe as a last resort. Playing innocent is also a possibility, but it's not as convincing when you talk so formally…You should have toned that down so you looked younger and cuter, Meta. Perhaps she would have taken sympathy on you and—_

"Well, it's growing late, and I can't think of anything else to tell you at the moment," the scout commented, shifting on her feet. "You should be going to bed soon, yourself. Twenty-five is barely the age for a legal adult here, and that's not counting your own, Pikonyan species' standards. Get some sleep, Meta. It'll do you a world of good; I'm sure you had a long journey getting here."

She closed her eyes before turning away from him and starting to walk back toward her tent in camp. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Mik—Meta."

With Kajinara's back toward him, Meta Knight let himself shudder. He internally checked all the trivial details that the scout knew about him off a mental list.

 _She knows my age, my species, my name…I mentioned my species name to Silva, but that's about it; we aren't native to Dream Land._ The puff frowned, crossing his paws. _That still leaves the question of how she found out my name and age, though—_

 _Wait._ _ **I**_ _don't even know my age. How does she know that? Either her guess is as good as mine, or…_

 _'_ _Or' what? If it's not a guess, then does that mean she actually knows for certain how old I am? But how?_

The more he thought about it, the more disadvantaged he was compared to the scout. She did say that she'd see him tomorrow, but…what would that give him? It wouldn't necessarily give him any information, though perhaps a bit of apprehension about his decision to sleep by himself among a bunch of strangers might be gained from that promise.

 _If she's a scout for the tribe, she has to have at least some experience fighting, especially if Cody is her teacher…Does she have any special powers she could use against you? She's a Waddle Dee; she couldn't have fended on her own for this long if she had no clue what she was doing._

 _She won't hurt you, Meta. She's a scout for the tribe. If she really wanted to do anything, she'd have already tried it…or she could still ambush me in my sleep. That's still an intelligent option, but she has no reason to do so. People rarely do things without reason, and she seems sane enough._

The sapphire puff frowned, still unable to convince himself that nobody would attack him.

 _Not Kajinara…well, maybe Kajinara. I mean, if someone was going to attack me, it would be—_

"Hey Meta? Izzat you?"

Meta Knight neatly spun on a foot to face his king, who appeared to be half-asleep and dragging himself around.

"Yes, your Majesty?" the knight asked politely.

Dedede rubbed his eyes, scowling at the puff. "It's 'great king' to _you_ , noob."

"Apologies, your Majesty." The puffball smiled innocently, flapping his wings a few times. "Is there anything I can do for his Majesty?"

"Yeah. You could trade beds with Kirby so that he doesn't have to sleep with me," the king grumbled, giving up the title argument.

Meta Knight couldn't help but frown at hearing his request. "Who am I staying with now?"

"At Bandana's house. But please, Meta, orders from your king! Don't let that annoying gumball bunk with me! I'm serious; get him— _and Silva—_ away from me!"

The blue puffball smirked, crossing his arms as his wings perked up. "You're asking me to give up a nice bed in a peaceful house in exchange for sleeping in a tent on the beach. His Majesty knows I dislike camping. What do you have to offer me in exchange?"

"I'm not paying you, Meta."

The knight frowned, glaring at the king as seriously as possible. It was a bit difficult with his cute face, but making the effort was better than nothing. "No, you _are_ paying me. That's how it works in real life when you ask someone to do something they don't want to: you bribe them. How badly do you want me as a tentmate?"

Despite the penguin's protests, it was only fifteen minutes later that Meta Knight was building a nest for himself in the king's tent—and making his host sleep by the door, to boot. He still didn't feel very secure sleeping with cloth walls (particularly compared to the steel-enforced walls of his own bedroom), but he'd pocketed quite a sum of money out of the deal and at the very least, bunking with the region's king would hopefully lessen the chances of being attacked by his hosts.

 _Way to make yourself feel better, Meta. You're paranoid, you probably won't get to sleep now, you're sharing a tent with someone instead of_ _ **maybe**_ _getting the chance to sleep by yourself, you keep wondering about your past and your family life, you're completely in the dark about how any suspicious people could potentially attack you, and it's only day two. This is about where the effort curve comes in for your failing grade of trying to be happy and worry-free._

 _…_ _After the curve, you got a D for Dedede. Which earns you exactly the same thing as an F since only C's and above count as passing._

As if fate itself had planned it, Dedede snored loudly.

* * *

 **C/N:** (Edit (9/5/17): This chapter has been REVISED from the original! So uh...hopefully you notice a difference in writing style. The original is still on my deviantArt, but I plan to replace it and just include the old versions in a stash document for people to compare how and what I improved.)

Didn't mention this last chapter (when she actually appeared), but Cody _is_ a senior to Meta Knight (and a few other characters) in some ways. We won't be seeing her for a while after this, but not even Kajinara knows what Meta Knight picked out about her. There are hints about her whenever she's mentioned though, so if one of you guys picks out her dual role, you get a raft full of cookies! Hope you have a boating license.

I think Meta's thoughts pretty much sum up anything I could tease you with, so I won't say anything more...yet.

 **(Guest) Review Replies**

Indigo Puff: Oooooooh boy, you're on to me. But it's funny that that line turned out like it did, because that chapter was actually the first one I finished in the project.

Meow: I'm guessing the words you refer to are 'penguin type'? It's been a while since I've picked up a Kirby game, so do you remember the names for the other penguin enemies? I keep thinking of the ones from the Mario series; apparently blue is a popular penguin color.

And...thanks for your response last chapter. That made me feel a lot better. And the story comparisons...thank you. And I'm glad you like the way I write the Kirby verse. I like the interpretations that you described a lot. I'm not good at talking a lot, but...I really want to say thank you, so much.

I read jikanet's story, too! So many people I want to update...And yes, you're right on StarRod. I've been looking out for her too!


	10. Your Breakfast Is Served, by the King

**Chapter 3, Part 1**

* * *

 _Let's see. Could I be a demon beast?_ _I have the bat wings, but I grew those, so…questionable._ _Unless Nightmare's coming back AGAIN, due to everybody neglecting the Fountain of Dreams._ _Perhaps I can send Dedede and them out there so_ _ **I**_ _don't have to risk possession._ _I hope to avoid that sort of thing._

 _But what if I was an experiment? Really though, how would Kajinara know about that?_ _Did she…wait, I could be an experiment or a pet that she saved while she was out scouting, and she could've turned me in to the GSA!_ _Maybe my parents—oh wait, I wouldn't have parents if I was an experiment…But Kirby isn't a pet, and nobody seems to have heard of our species around Dream Land._ _That isn't logical if I was a pet, unless there was some rich person who was keeping me captive._

 _…_ _I hope that doesn't mean she slit their throat or killed them to save me…Actually, hold that thought—if somebody's keeping sentient creatures as pets with no respect for their lives, they're better off eliminated._

Meta Knight's fork and knife barely moved as he cut up his pancake. Dedede and Bandana Dee were fixing them over a small fire, and serving them to the puffballs as they came out of the pan. Kirby had already devoured seven, as Meta Knight was still working on actually eating his.

At the rate this was going, the pancake would be cold by the time he sliced it up, and it was already ten o'clock in the morning. His thoughts weren't as organized or on-track as they normally would have been; his focus frequently slipped or bounced around to other subjects. It was less than ideal to him.

 _What if I was a refugee that Nightmare kidnapped and experimented on? Kajinara wouldn't know about_ _ **that**_ _, would she?_ _Hey wait, Dakonyo crash-landed here—no, he already said he didn't know me—although maybe he just didn't remember at the time?_ _I was such a stupid little kid; why didn't I ask?!_

 _…_ _Actually…considering all the math and planning I did in the GSA besides the fighting…I was a pretty smart little—no, wait; I can't really say I was THAT advantaged…I was just really good at asking questions on what I needed to do. That voice chip and that thesaurus really helped me out on my image, but strategy was really just looking at what types of monsters we're battling on what terrain, or whether the natives will kill us if we set foot on their planet._ _I guess it was a people's army, so it didn't really HAVE to be as formal…But hey, I don't have to tell that to any employers._ _Mindless monsters and really quick fighting experts are two different fields._

 _Ah, all those puzzles I did to pass the time instead of playing…I love puzzles…_ His mind drifted even farther from his original topic. _I can't wait to get back and do that puzzle with the jelly beans! Everybody will think I'm insane until I complete it!_ _All those logic challenges and such really DID help me out!_ _…_ _but it would have been nice to play with someone, too…_

 _Why…couldn't I play with someone…_

 _Well…I didn't have anyone to play with, remember? I didn't have any family._ _Whoever took care of me…_ _ **didn't**_ _care…_

 _Stop worrying about that. Even if your caretakers basically threw you out on a battlefield, you're what you are._ _Maybe…Maybe you were like Silva with her biology studies._ _She's a cool kid, remember?_ _Maybe when she's older…I could take her to the Science Galaxy-Scaled convention with me; she's definitely capable of things. Me, and her, and Fumu…we're on the same page together._ _But…Fumu's biology, chemistry, physics, and math._ _And English._ _I'm engineering, and computer related._ _I wonder if I could corrupt Silva to be an engineer like me, or if Fumu would get her anyway._ _Then…maybe she wouldn't be interested in me any more than…_

Something…felt wrong. He didn't feel any better than he did before he started hypothesizing about his background last night. After thinking (and re-thinking) what he'd just ran through his head…he felt worse.

 _Stop sulking, Meta. Aren't you_ _ **happy**_ _with what you've become?_ _You love being able to say you're a rocket scientist!_ _And you did that when you were barely twelve years old!_ _You didn't even_ _ **need**_ _any parents for that!_ _You did that_ _ **by yourself**_ _, remember?_ _That's what works best in life; doing things yourself so nobody can slow you down, and you don't have to disappoint anyone._

The puff couldn't help but sigh, even though he was around his friends.

 _Quit…Quit moping around. If you were an animal like a N'ruff, you'd be on your own after a year or two._ _Your parents wouldn't be there for you after that…In some species, your parents might be territorial enemies, out for your blood…_

 _But…a lot of creatures have a shorter lifespan than I do…so that's not fair. And I'm not an animal; I'm a sentient creature with thoughts and feelings…last time I checked, at least._ _Not sure what I'd say with the experiment theory._

 _But that theory doesn't_ _ **matter**_ _if Kajinara doesn't know me._ _She has to know me for the theory to be valid, unless she's bluffing, which would be completely useless for her to do!_ _How else could she know me or hear about me?_

It was at this moment that Meta Knight realized that any more ideas he could think of would have a higher chance of being absurd or irrelevant to him. In a logical sense, this meant that they would be almost useless to him. His eyes narrowed briefly as he refocused his frustration to chopping up the pancake.

 _What does she want from me…? What would she gain by telling me all this?_ _Is it so bad that she just wants to get it off her shoulders…or, did someone tell her to tell me?_ _Maybe it's a trap, and I'm being lured out by being fed false information, and then kidnapped._ _Although I doubt that would happen in the middle of a Waddle Dee party._

The sapphire puffball yawned. How many times had he thought this over since last night? More times than he could count. He may or may not have stayed up the better part of the night thinking about it, and he just maaaaaaaaybe might have seen dawn breaking before he fell asleep. Or maybe he was just delirious.

…Or maybe Dedede and Bandana Dee weren't staring at him in concern when he hadn't held his plate up to take the stack of pancakes they'd been offering him for probably the last twenty seconds, and now were dropping on Kirby's plate instead.

"Hey Meta, are you okay? You seem kinda off—well, more than you usually do."

The sapphire puffball glanced up at his Waddle Dee friend. While Bandana Dee was not actually wearing his bandana yet, Kirby and Meta Knight could still pick him out from a crowd, with Dedede having a very similar degree of this skill, despite being higher than the Dees and not being able to see them as well without bending over.

"Oh, uh? I'm…I'm fine," the puff murmured, somewhat dazed. "I…" He yawned. "I'm not accustomed to sleeping with several other people…"

"He's talking fancy," Dedede pointed out, giving Meta Knight a suspicious look. "That means he's _hiding_ something."

"He's tired because you _snored_ all night," Kirby giggled. "Seven more, please!"

Dedede shook his spatula at the pink puff. " ** _Hey_**. Be careful of who's cookin' your pancakes, puffball. Oy Meta Kni—er, Meta, you done ye…?" The king stared at the puff's pancake, which he'd just finished cutting up. "Uhhhh…What've _you_ been doing, thinking? Do that as you're eating; maybe _I_ should cut them up. I'll get them done quicker. Oh hey, here's some more. Get some so that you have something to eat before _Kirby_ steals them all. You're not the only one who loves these things…"

The sapphire puffball stared at the large stack of pancakes that Dedede was offering to him. Then he sighed, closed his eyes, and pushed the plate away. "Okay. Guys, I'm sorry, but I'm not that hungry. You eat them, Dedede."

The penguin king's mouth fell open, and he dropped his spoon before whirling around to face the puffball. _"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"_

Bandana Dee's eyes were wide as well. The Dee and the king stared at the blue puffball in stunned silence, while Kirby quickly picked off a few of Meta Knight's pancakes.

"B…But Meta…" Bandana Dee began. "Y-You _love_ pancakes! Silva even suggested we should make them for you!"

Guilt piled on top of worry and candy. "Um, that's…no problem…I can still eat them, you kno—"

Meta Knight glanced down at his plate. Then he, the king, and Bandana Dee directed their glances toward Kirby.

The pink puffball licked his lips. "Poyyyy…!"

"Meta, you weren't up all night thinking about _Kajinara_ , were you?"

Meta Knight stiffened, hoping that the mentioned Dee wasn't around to overhear them talking about her. Apparently, Bandana Dee didn't particularly care if she was listening to them at the moment. Then again, they were…no; since they were still at the bonfire they'd eaten dinner at last night, she _could_ be listening without him noticing. And so could Cody. Meta Knight was seriously going to watch how he replied.

Kirby and Dedede perked up, staring at their sapphire friend. Dedede poured some more pancake mix in his giant pan, with Kirby savoring his snatched pancakes. Why _Dedede_ was cooking instead of letting Reggie do it was a mystery. Perhaps the king secretly enjoyed it. Or perhaps he didn't want to wait for the Dees more reliant on the chefs' services to eat first.

"Hey Meta. Who's Kajinara?" the king asked. "Usually I remember names that begin with 'K'…"

Kirby smiled innocent at this comment. "Poyo~"

Bandana Dee glanced at Meta Knight, wondering what his choice of response was. The sapphire puffball had to stop and think about this himself, which to the others, simply appeared as if he was staring intently at the pancakes cooking.

 _Hm. If I tell them too much, they'll talk about it all over camp._ _OR, they'll get themselves wrapped up in this!_ _I don't want them messing with my affairs until_ _ **I**_ _sort them out myself._

 _…_ _but, thinking realistically, I don't have to_ _ **tell**_ _them what's going on._ _How about, you know, actually asking them for information?_ _They'll tell you without even thinking about it._

"Well…" Meta Knight hesitated. "…To put it in simplest terms, you haven't seen a Waddle Dee with a sparkly, transparent-blue headdress around, have you?"

Kirby blinked.

"Hm? Nope. Not me." The king checked the pancakes. "What's so important about her anyway; are you—" Dedede lifted his head, and Meta Knight instantly knew from the look on his face what was coming…and he hated it. "Ooooooo, you're _interested_ in her, aren't you? You couldn't find someone until they had a blue cape like yours, huh? Hmmm, let's see…" He put his hand on his chin, still grinning. "I bet she's quiet and mysterious just like you, and it can be like a hero-and-princess quest where—"

"This is getting out of hand," the puff interrupted, hoping to preserve his dignity. He seriously hoped that Kajinara was not there listening to them. "And it's the opposite; I have reason to believe that she could be following _me_. I've barely spoken to her."

"You haven't even talked to her, Meta," Bandana Dee interrupted, giving him a look. "How can you call that 'barely'?"

"How do you know she hasn't approached me since?" Meta Knight countered.

Bandana Dee blinked. "What? When did she talk to you?"

"Use your brain. And don't even attempt thinking of what she wanted to talk about. She didn't ask anything beyond what we've already hypothesized and discussed, which is next to nothing."

"Hey, why did you go to him instead of us?" Dedede asked, annoyed. Kirby also looked slightly upset. "Don't you trust us?"

"Definitely not with any candy or money of mine," the sapphire puff sniped. "And my reasoning for asking him was that he lives with these Dees. I highly doubt either of you can say that you've lived with them longer than he has."

Kirby smiled again, relieved, and went back to eating his pancakes. Dedede simply made a face. "I guess you have a point, Mr. Smarty-Pants. But what's up with a girl following you? That chef's assistant seemed to think you guys looked pretty cool…" The smirk returned to his face, and Meta Knight barely had enough self-control to keep himself from punching something out of irritation. "Maybe this Kajinara girl likes you, too! Or maybe…"

His grin grew even bigger, and he thrust an accusing finger at the sapphire puffball. "…You're really her long-lost boyfriend with amnesia!"

Meta Knight simply blinked. "…What…would possibly give you that idea? I believe she's _older_ than me. Highly improbable, unless I dated her when I was six."

"Well then, genius, tell US some of what YOU know! 'Cause right now, we don't know—"

"Excuse me." Kirby held his plate out to the king. "I'm out of pancakes."

"Ahhhhh!" Dedede's face fell in a comedically-dramatic way. "I'll be here cooking pancakes until dinner! That's enough for you!" He shoved the pink puff back onto his bench before turning to the others. "Meta, Bandana, did you want any? He's going to starve you guys. Here Meta; you haven't eaten any. Let me show you how to cut your pancakes."

In the end, Dedede managed to persuade Meta Knight into eating three sliced-up pancakes. The king handed the puff the syrup jar, and he absentmindedly spread some around the pancakes. The amount he poured on earned him some questioning glances from his friends, but at this point he was accustomed to it. Even when he went back for syrup three more times.

"But uh…anyway, Meta…" Bandana Dee turned toward the puffball, who returned his curious look. "Kajinara really doesn't talk to anyone here. What'd she want to know about? You didn't have any armor or weapons or anything on, did you?"

The puff's wings twitched irritably. "Nothing, outside of my cape."

"Was she wearing anything orange? That might tell you something?"

Meta Knight thought for a moment. "It was dark, but she might have had an orange wristband on. …What would that mean?"

"Okay, whew." Bandana Dee relaxed. "All scouts have to wear orange material from something knit when they're on a mission. It's an identifier to take them seriously. Maybe she thinks you're a threat."

Dedede briefly glanced up from his pancakes before staring back down, unimpressed. "You don't look like much of a threat, to be honest. And even with all your equipment on, you still didn't look that threatening. If anything, you just looked professional. Maybe."

Meta Knight, having no comeback, chose to ignore this.

"Why don't you give her something, Meta?" Kirby suggested. "If you're friends with her, she won't hurt you, and she'll trust you."

"Give her a love letter!" Dedede interrupted, laughing. Somehow, he just _knew_ that romantic teasing got under the blue puff's skin.

"Kirby, that's a good idea, but I'm fairly certain that I don't have the time to make a friendship with her. Look how long you've known _us_." The blue puff took a bite of his pancakes. " _You're_ good at making friends on contact, but not everyone is going to like that."

"Hey, don't worry your little head over that army person," Dedede offered. " _We'll_ help ya figure it out. How can you go wrong with, uhhhhh…Waddle Dee—"

Bandana Dee blinked.

"—a handsome king…" Dedede flexed his muscles. "…a pink marshmallow—"

Kirby stuffed an orange in his mouth, peel and all.

"—and a…blue…marsh…mallow…"

"I don't necessarily need collaboration to figure out what she wants…"Apparently, Meta Knight had chosen to ignore Dedede's description of him and jump straight to what he needed. "I'd just like some new ideas. Is there something I'm missing? I have so many theories, but my evidence for one could work just as well in ten others. I've thought things through so many times that I have them memorized."

Though the other quartet members didn't show any signs of their thoughts, there was one word on their mind—'overkill'.

"Well, Meta…" Bandana Dee tried to venture out and say what he was thinking. "…you know, you've probably thought of every problem and solution for that at this point…"

"No, I acknowledge that I can't think of everything." Apparently, the hint had flown over the puff's head. "But honestly, you guys don't have much to hypothesize from anyway…"

"I still say you likes you," Dedede suggested, going back to cooking more pancakes. "What about soap operas? You could be her lover reborn as a puffball, and she's the only one who knows."

The king started snickering upon seeing the brief flash of annoyance across the puff's face, and the faintest tint of red on his cheeks. "Ha, it's true! Why else would you be embarrassed?"

"Cut—Cut this out. You and I both know that's impossible." The sapphire puffball crossed his arms. The action always made him feel more secure and at ease, and he was starting to wish he hadn't started the discussion on Kajinara. "You know, I do tend to keep things to myself for a reason, and that reason is because of things like this. I've gotten nowhere and I just wasted my time."

The others genuinely frowned at processing what that statement probably meant. Dedede, as per usual, was the first to say something. "Hey, stop being so sour about things. We're just joking around. And you aren't even telling us anything, so how are we supposed to help you? Well, sorry, but we can't. _You're_ wasting your own time."

"Uh, that's kinda true, Meta…" Bandana Dee played with his paws. "You know, you didn't really tell them anything they could use to help you out…"

Kirby didn't even bother adding a 'poyo' just for fun.

The blue puff sighed. "I understand. I'm just…I'd prefer some more information myself, at this point. Let's forget everything we said."

"Sorry, Meta," Dedede said. "You know, I understand, but not _everyone_ is going to be a rocket scientist. And we were busy working our butts off yesterday, while you were busy strolling around. Just pointing that out. We don't know who you're talking about, either. She could've fallen off a boat from another tribe, for all we know."

Meta Knight blinked, thinking of something from that statement. "Hey…Bandana, _is_ she natively from this tribe?"

The question caught the Dee off guard. "Huh? I, um…Well, I guess I wouldn't know…" He looked uneasy now. "Sorry."

"It's nobody's fault." Meta Knight sighed. "You don't need to apologize."

The group ate in silence until they finished eating and cleaning up, with Meta Knight still pondering what he'd do if he ran into Kajinara.

 _Perhaps it would be better…if I just got all this over with. I brought Galaxia, so if she wants to kill me, I'm not_ _ **too**_ _under-defended…_

 _But if she wanted to kill me, who would she know that I was related to? Sailor Dee?_ _Maybe she's a long-lost relative of his…But I treat him well, and I don't seriously know any other Waddle Dees._ _Why—_

"Hey Meta, a little help?"

The sapphire puffball quickly looked up to see Dedede struggling with the cooking supplies. "Kirby, could you—"

Meta Knight felt like smacking himself. _Metaaaaaa, you made a stupid suggestion again!_

"POYO!" Kirby cheered, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Bandana Dee jumped up, hoping to avoid a fight between the two food rivals.

"No no no; guys! Let me help you with that!"

"Do I need to come?" Meta Knight offered.

Bandana Dee barely glanced over his shoulder. "Put out the fire, and _then_ come. Or stay right there and we'll be right back—no, Kirby, please!"

The sapphire puffball didn't protest…although he did start thinking about what could happen because of it.

 _If Kajinara comes around…Oh boy; I don't have any excuse to get away from her._

 _Wait! Why WOULD I want to get away from her?_ _I wanted to figure out what was—_

"Hello there, Meta. Do you have a moment?"

Meta Knight turned around when he heard the quiet voice. _Talk about bad luck…As soon as I start thinking about her, she shows up right behind me!_

Sure enough, Kajinara had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Meta Knight instantly searched for the knit, orange wristband, but…it wasn't there. Her boots were absent as well, though she still wore the headdress. And something about her…it was… _different_ than the other Dees.

Maybe it was because Bandana Dee had warned him that she was cold…and unemotional, and unwilling to talk to people. Meta Knight had just shown up, and didn't know anything about the scout. The first time he'd heard her, she'd been panicked and somewhat emotional, but quick to hide it. Last night, she had indeed kept her cool quite well, but he still didn't believe it—perhaps from his first impression of her. Now…she was apparently intending to drop some formality while she was around him. And she didn't have as cold a demeanor as he imagined she should.

"May I have a word with you?" the scout asked, almost seeming worried about something. She glanced around at the Dees in the other tents, who fortunately hadn't noticed them yet. "Alone, perhaps? It may take a while to explain, but I only have fifteen minutes. You coming?"

Meta Knight hesitated.

 _What does she want with me?_

 _What if she attacks me while I'm out there?_

 _What's she gonna tell me?_ _Something bad?_ _What if she's secretly psycho?!_

 _COWARD! She's a scout!_ _She protects her tribe; why's she want to hurt you?_ _She was debating on telling you something…now I just hope that it's not something romantic…_

The blue puffball nodded. "Of course. I've got all day, really."

"How convenient." She spun around, grabbing the corners of her headdress in her paws and holding it around her. "Come, follow me."

* * *

 **C/N:** Well! I didn't let this story die after all...for too long. While a lot of factors contributed to the lack of updates (college + job at the same time; currently working overtime sometimes; on call at five in the morning...), the reason THIS particular chapter was delayed had nothing to do with life. I actually had this chapter written WAY back in February of this year (future readers, it is now July), but I really feel like I slopped it, and couldn't figure out the best way to rewrite it. It originally had QUITE a bit more thought pattern as well, because I was attempting to cheat and show some of Meta's personality traits in this story, but I cut it because it didn't have anything to do with what he was thinking about. So this is the rewritten version. Cos just _can't_ screw up quartet moments.

Speaking of rewriting, I might rewrite the chapters before this once I'm done with the story. I've changed a few things about the characters, and a few moments in previous chapters were a bit off.

BTW, there's juuuust enough backstory in the next chapter for you to guess Meta's past, so this is your final chance to fairly guess what it is in this story.

-ooo-

At this point, I don't remember who I've responded to and not (outside of one particular response), so if I haven't replied to you, accept my wholehearted thanks. I've just been really busy and have been living on four hours of sleep every day. So for now, I'll just respond to everyone here:

Meow: You don't have to be sorry...I've taken a fairly long time to upload anyway. That chapter actually isn't the end of the story though; there's more to come!

I've not yet decided whether it will only be in this story, or in general. I don't usually bring up backstory in most of my stories (just because there are a lot of backstory fics on this site, mainly for Meta Knight/Kirby), but if I do ever use it, there is some time manipulation involved...and all the characters in this universe exist in both timelines, so this could qualify for a timeline that was erased.

Oh, I see it! Those little guys are so cute! Of course, I love penguins anyway, if the username wasn't a giveaway. ^-^

I was really split on Bandana and Sailor being siblings for a while. I held the theory for a while, so I don't really know why they suddenly aren't siblings in my work anymore.

I got Robobot! I was kinda expecting to see the HR-D3 in it, though...! Have you played it?

Dedede has a soft spot for taking care of his friends...but he's not too fond of letting people see it, so he tries to only step in when he really needs to. That doesn't always work though; after the assumed bonding over the years between the quartet, the king can get a bit overprotective at times.

Indigo Puff: ...Maybe. Maybe. What were you thinking?

MyKnightLife: Don't worry, you get a raft full of cookies just for reading. It's cool when I can surprise people!

Storystosee: Thank you! That means a lot~

APleadingFAN: Thank you! I hope you enjoy the update!


	11. Scout's Secret

C/N: That quip about not having much backstory in this chapter? I lied.

* * *

The forest next to the Dees' camp was relatively quiet, excluding Meta Knight and Kajinara's footsteps. Meta Knight walked slightly behind the older Dee, but still close enough next to her that conversing wasn't difficult.

"So…you're a fighter, correct?"

Meta Knight stiffened upon hearing the statement, but tried not to show it. Was she challenging him? It was a good thing he'd brought Galaxia. "…Yes. Yes, I am."

The Dee cast him a knowing glance. "I assumed so. If what I've heard is true, you have some impressive skills. Were you taught by someone? Or did you learn some from others, and mainly by yourself?"

"I learned mainly on my own." The puff frowned, recalling his childhood memories. "Of course I had some instruction. But my main purpose in life was to fight, or so I believe. I had no other purpose…" He hesitated about going any further; he really shouldn't, but…he felt like he could say more to her. She did appear quite secretive, after all… "My—I had no family. No friends, or any real cause to fight for. I just fought because I was a star warrior, and…it was the right thing to do. I didn't have any other purpose, after all…I didn't know where I came from, or if I even had a home, so…there wasn't anything to do but fight. Because that's what I was supposed to do as a star warrior. If I had any parents, they must not have cared enough to come get me…unless they abandoned me, or they died…"

The duo was quiet after he said that, walking in silence.

"You know, you're wrong about some of what you've said," Kajinara murmured.

At this point, Meta Knight noticed that they had trailed off the beaten path and off into a little nook in some large tree roots. Far enough away from the path to be out of earshot, but not enough to get lost…but juuuust far enough away that if she stabbed him, nobody would notice for—

 ** _Stop thinking about that, Meta!_** _Stop being such a paranoid idiot!_

"What…part am I wrong about?" the puff ventured, unsure of where she was going. This didn't support his theory about being an experiment or a demon beast at all…Maybe she just knew some secret about how star warriors were created? Or what their purpose was? Or—

"I…I missed you a lot, Mikaru." She placed her paws on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. Meta Knight hoped his surprise wasn't showing, but it probably was—she'd said his real name. Even Kirby didn't know his name. _Nobody_ knew his name. "I missed you so much when your father took you back into space with him. I always expected him to come back, but he was killed, and I thought you were, too…"

Meta Knight's mind began to race, eliminating the theories about his past that didn't involve having parents. He started to feel sick, wondering what sort of horrible thing he'd done to make them abandon him, or hate him, or…wait, she'd just said his father was killed, but where was his mother? "You knew my parents…?"

His mind couldn't really focus enough to make any better answer than that; it was busy reforming his entire view of how he'd thought of his past, and—secretly—how he thought of himself.

"Of course, Mikaru." She moved her paws to take his. "Actually, wait. I won't say. I was going to show you a picture of them."

She reached into the cloth on her headdress and pulled an old photo from seemingly nowhere. She hesitated a few seconds, staring at it with an unreadable expression, before handing it to the puffball.

And that was where Meta Knight's mind completely locked up. A few thoughts managed to escape, but they were all rather short and fragmented. Staring at the image…

He didn't have much difficulty acknowledging that it was himself in the picture—although normally he would have winced at how frail and sickly he looked. The baby puffball in the picture was sleeping soundly with a huge beanie cap on his head, completely oblivious to anything going on. The puff's skin was sapphire, but it was a bit pale compared to the shade of his skin now. He briefly acknowledged that there was an ocean-colored puffball in the photo with a Water ability hat…but he couldn't focus on that as much as he could for the creature holding him.

For whom would it happen to be but the Dee standing in front of him, looking almost exactly like she had in the picture?

Meta Knight tried his best to piece together a decent question to confirm that it really was her. His mind felt like somebody stuck a numbing solution in his head, but…

"I'm…assuming that's you in the picture, right?" he ventured cautiously.

The Dee stiffened, but nodded. "Yes. You're correct."

The sapphire puffball felt as if he could faint.

 _Quick Meta, don't just stand there gawking! Say something polite!_

 _Ask her about your family…_

 _Look at the headdress! Holy popsicles, it looks just like my cape; how'd you miss—_

 _I don't…feel dizzy or anything…_

 _She's a relative—_

 _NO! My parents hate me!_

 _I was wrong…_

 _Could this be_ _ **possible**_ _?_ _How would she—?_

 _What should I do…?!_

 _And…_ _ **she said she's my mother…**_

 _Maybe she cares about me…_

It was, honestly, a lot for him to take in at the moment. Five seconds felt like five minutes.

"Tell…Tell me everything. Do I want to know?" he asked. He couldn't describe how he felt at this moment. He never knew an emotion like this existed.

And his mind may as well have been on another planet…

The Dee's expression and posture didn't change that much, if at all. "I don't know. _Do_ you want to know?"

Meta Knight wasn't particularly sure if he did. But if he didn't say yes, she may never tell him if he wanted to know later. "…Yes. I think I do."

"You're being surprisingly calm for finding out you're a cross-species child…" He couldn't help but notice that she looked slightly suspicious as she said this. "…Are you sure you're not more upset by this all?"

The sapphire puffball blinked in confusion. "What? I wasn't thinking of that part, to be honest…Actually, what do you mean by that term?"

"You don't know." It was the Dee's turn to look surprised, and…perhaps a bit relieved? "Nobody ever told you about such things?"

"I've…heard the term before, but…I'm afraid I don't know much about what it means; maybe just a guess…" Inwardly, he flinched. He hated being out of the loop on things.

"Well, Mikaru…" Kajinara shifted on her feet, her headdress barely moving despite this. "…perhaps…you'd like to sit down, for the few minutes we have left? I hate to rush, but…I didn't want to postpone this, and not have the chance to say anything, if you really wanted to know…"

The sapphire puffball still felt a bit dizzy, so he was more than happy to join her in the tree roots. He couldn't help but sneak another peek at the photo—and then the thought crossed his mind that she would probably want it back. Once they'd both sat down, he offered it back politely. She refused, patting the paw that he held the photo in.

"That's very kind of you, but you can keep it. I brought it knowing I could lose it, depending on how you took things."

Meta Knight slowly withdrew his paw, catching another quick glimpse at the photo.

Kajinara nodded. "Thank you…Thank you for being so nice about this, Mikaru. I was expecting a lot worse. But anyway. Let me begin."

Meta Knight shifted to lean against the tree root with her, though he couldn't catch a good view of her face now.

"Well, I won't bother saying _much_ about myself, but I stumbled into this tribe when I was young. My family is dead; I had no one. Since I held a fighting position from my—oh…erm, I held a fighting position since a young age, so I volunteered to be a scout for the tribe. From there, I was happy—happy as I could be, from losing everyone I knew and dealing with reality. I met a friend or two, and Cody, whom I deeply respect…and I know everyone here; I'm just not too social with them. I don't want them to get too attached to me in case I die, you know? I mean, it's unlikely, but since I had you, things have changed."

"When… _did_ you have me?" Meta Knight asked. "Or did you adopt me?"

The Dee sighed. "If you were adopted, you'd still have been here today. But, your birth…That was about twenty-five years ago, seven days before the longest night. Winter Solstice is the same for Popstar every year; not sure how long you've lived here. I…I hope someone at least told you your birthday. But, anyway, back in the past…I had been living my normal life, until a star warrior on a surveying job tumbled into my laundry. He was so nice to me, and he made me feel really happy. He was _really_ optimistic, but he was still anchored in reality enough to be practical, and…and I liked that. I'd been that way, when I was a little kid, and being around him made me feel wonderful like that again. My childhood was pretty much dead, haha."

Meta Knight could tell that even though she laughed shortly, she didn't find it very funny.

"Your father…his name was Tidal. He was a Pikonyan—your species—but of course, you can see that I'm a Waddle Dee. It was from him that I found out most of what I know about the outside world, like the Nightmare wizard. Our tribe keeps up on the news well enough, but it wasn't of much concern to anyone, since Popstar wasn't in the news that much at the time. But back to you. I was hesitant about…accepting my feelings for your father, because I know not everyone approves of cross-species relationships…but I really loved him, and I was ready to carry that commitment…" She cast a glance toward him. "…Mikaru."

The puff blinked. "Yes?"

"That term…some people in the universe believe that creatures of different species shouldn't be allowed to love each other, even if science has proven that certain groups of creatures can raise families…without their children having any problems as a result." She sounded a little embarrassed talking about this sort of topic. "So…I knew that if I kept you, and one of my tribemates happened to disapprove of my relationship with you and your father…they might try to take it out on you, even though you can't control how you were brought into this world. I was nervous. I didn't want anyone to know. This is a horrible thing to think of the people who live with you, but…I wasn't sure if I'd come back one night, and somebody would have killed you. I didn't want you to have to live that sort of life."

She placed her paw on his.

"Please understand, Mikaru…I really cared about you and your father. But I didn't want either of you to have to suffer when we could have avoided it. So when I found out that you might not be born as a Waddle Dee, and on top of that, that you might be born as a star warrior, I ran away from camp until you were born. I was going to go with your father to fight with him, once he and his colleagues had finished their work here…I do have skill in fighting myself, being a scout. I figured that if we were among hundreds of creatures who were lucky if they knew what species I was, your father could just say I was your caretaker, and nobody would have to know anything more about us. Plus, the two of you would be among other star warriors, or at least creatures who knew who to fight. I'd give my life fighting to protect someone, but my tribemates aren't trained in any more than basic techniques. If a group of monsters ever came after you while you were still a newborn, I don't know whether I'd be able to fight them off without my tribemates noticing, or them catching you while I was fighting alone. And I always felt like someone was watching me when I'd meet with your father…so…"

She grasped the sides of her headdress and pulled it around herself, much like Meta Knight did himself. The Dee turned toward him, trying to see how he was taking all this, but not trying to be too obvious about it. When she saw that he mainly seemed surprised, and not angry, she continued…though she didn't meet his eyes.

"That's…where…I made my mistake. I knew your father was a really extraordinary fighter. He was a star warrior, and he had a lot of experience. And around the time you were born, I was…supposed to be helping Cody, with her children. Keep in mind, Cody's family is huge. I don't know if you've met her, but if you haven't, she has five children, and…she does have other responsibilities in the tribe that she sometimes has to take on top of that. I owe a _lot_ to Cody. Correction; I owe her my life. Literally. And, I missed my tribemates while I was gone, so…I screwed up.

I asked your father to take you for a few weeks until I could catch up with Cody, and see everybody one last time. I felt guilty about bailing out on Cody, and...I didn't think anything would happen to someone who was as talented as Tidal was. I just figured that he could get you set up with some medical care to see if you were okay, and that he could come get me once everything was set up, and nobody would ever think twice when I showed up to take care of you. They'd already know he was your dad, and they'd never think that I'd be your mother…just a refugee, maybe, or someone interested in helping the organization. But, of course…things are never that easy."

She let the cape drop to her sides, and she leaned back against the tree, this time a bit more relaxed. "I went back home, perfectly fine—though, Cody was quite worried—and I checked up on him from this radio he'd given me. It was just one-way, but hey, I wasn't going to be picky. He just snatched it for me; I didn't want him to get in trouble. The days were passing, and it got closer to when he was going to come back…and then, I happened to hear a radio broadcast about him. That's how I knew how died…and since I didn't have any way to get in contact with anyone to ask, I thought…you had died, too. So I just moved on…because that choice was really, _really_ stupid. I never let myself live that down, until I saw you again…"

The Dee stood up, shaking the wood chips off her headdress. "So. Whoever was supposedly spying on us must not have told on me, and nobody found out I went behind their backs to meet someone in secret. They just noticed that I stayed away from everyone like crazy, and I got a little colder than usual. The end. …unless you had any questions."

Meta Knight placed a paw against his cheek in thought. "Um…"

What should he say? What should he ask? That was a lot to take in; it wasn't _anything_ like he'd ever imagined about himself. His entire view of how he thought of himself had changed in a few minutes…and he had no idea what to think of all this—

"I know you just met me…so I honestly don't blame you if you don't want to talk to me, or if you want to be angry at me for what I chose to do. If you hate me, that's fine; I've already been through thinking you were dead. I understand your reasoning no matter how you might end up feeling about this. I just thought I'd tell you what I knew about you, since you seemed to be curious."

"I don't hate you for what you've done." He couldn't think of much, but he knew he didn't want the Dee to feel bad when he hadn't even come _close_ to figuring out how he felt. "You had your reasons to make the choices you did. That's not your fault."

"So you don't feel bad about what you've been through?" she countered, the slightest edge of bitterness cutting into her voice.

Meta Knight hadn't expected that sort of response. "Well, yes, but—that—You had no impact on any of that. None of that was your fault."

The scout remained completely still for a few moments.

Then she relaxed, looking quite peaceful. "You're so nice. I…expected a _lot_ worse out of this conversation, so I apologize if I ever came off as upset, or if it sounded like I was just talking about problems. You're a good listener."

"I…no, you don't have to worry about that." This would have been a good time for the puff to have his mask, as his expression looked quite innocent at the moment. "I should be thanking you for your time, and telling me all this…but, I do have a question."

"Sure. Go ahead."

The sapphire puffball hesitated, unsure of how she'd react to this question…but decided that he wanted to know the answer. "…If you assumed I would hate you…and you seem so worried that I'll reject you…why would you bother telling me all this? Why wouldn't you play it safe and just…I dunno. Why did you tell me?"

The Dee tensed slightly, but not too much. "…I…I thought you deserved to know, and…I still care about you. I always have. I couldn't take just having to stand to the side…not saying anything…"

Then, she straightened up.

"Mikaru. I hate to cut you off, but I have to be leaving presently. If you need me, I'll be…around camp. I just…need to go now. Like, literally 'now'. G…Goodbye."

With that, Kajinara spun around, her headdress billowing as she turned toward the path. The sapphire puffball internally panicked, though he couldn't identify why. He just knew that he didn't want her to leave. He held out a paw to her.

"Wait!"

The Dee turned around, and the puff relaxed a bit.

"Yes, Mikaru?"

"Um…" Meta Knight let out his breath in relief. "…You _will_ be back, right? You'll come back to see me later?"

Kajinara closed her eyes, her expression becoming peaceful and satisfied. "Yes, Mikaru. I'll always come back for you."

The puff smiled. "Thank you. You don't need to guard me, but I…I wanted to talk more…Maybe we could talk later on this evening?"

"Of course. I have no obligations then." She didn't look in as much of a hurry as she had when he asked her that question about him hating her…Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. "Don't worry about meeting me anywhere; I can find you on my own. Your species has a very strong energy signature, after all…"

Then, her posture and expression changed very quickly. If she'd had a mouth, she'd probably be smirking.

"By the way, Mikaru…do you know where that cape came from? It's not Pikonyan custom to have one unless you're an elite fighting member…Do you remember how long you've had yours, and what it does?"

Meta Knight blinked, completely surprised at her shift in seriousness. "Um, I've…I've had it since I was born, I think, and…it does dimensional tricks, and a bit of warping and distortion. Is that what you were thinking of?"

"Yes, you have the right answer. Now…can you guess who you got it from?"

He pondered this for approximately three seconds before a slight guess came to mind. It caused his mouth to fall open slightly. Kajinara chuckled upon seeing this, before _pulling a sword out of her headdress,_ twirling it around, and flinging it back into the cloth, causing it to dissolve into nothingness again. "Not only are you nice, you're smart, too. Teleportation cloth is somewhat of an old trick-tradition with Waddle Dees, but it's not really used a lot, except to sell to others or carry some tools temporarily…in which case, most Dees just have a strip of cloth they tie on their wrist or as an anklet. Of course, it doesn't hold much then…so for me and you, I figured we could go all out. Hope it's been useful."

With that, she twirled around and kept walking, laughing to herself.

* * *

C/N: …Aaaaaand now I should make a Star Wars reference!

Now that I've uploaded this chapter, I can say that I also have a deviantArt account where you can read this as well, if you're on there more. However, until I replace it, this version of this chapter is VERY different; I completely rewrote it. I use the journal feature there sometimes, so if I'm just randomly gone, you can go there and see if I'm having problems. I was going to reference this on my last update gap, but because this chapter was actually on dA at the time, I didn't say anything because only two people ever looked there, and I wanted to redo this. I should also mention that I'll be rewriting what I had for the future chapters, because I've really changed the story up from when I first wrote it. Mainly I'm changing timing of events, and Meta's characterization, as I've really thought about my portrayal of him since I first started this story (where I didn't have that good of an idea how I characterized him). Once I finish this story, I'll go back and redo the first chapters, but for now, I'm gonna keep updating.

I could say some stuff on the story here, but I don't want to make this too long, so I'm just going to say that a buddy over on deviantART (DreamPuppeteer) actually doodled a picture of Kajinara for me…but I just haven't gotten around to actually sorting through my notifications enough to fav/comment on it. ^^; I'll try to remember and post the link next time I update. I did do a proper C/N on deviantArt though, if you were looking for hints…

 **Review Responses:**

APleadingFAN: _Yesh! Hope this has satisfied that curiousity~_

Indigo Puff: _Oh, I'm sure you see that you were very correct…VERY. Applaud yourself!_

 _I actually got Robobot on launch day! I've almost completed it, and actually have a fic or two for it…I just haven't completed them yet…_

Meow: _Oh yes, that sort of idea sharing would be nice…Let me know if you find a way to do that! Aw, and thank you! (Actually, if you wanted, I could have a little stash document on dA if you wanted my replies to be off this page, like I would reply if you had an account and I replied. It wouldn't help headcanon sharing, but it's a step up since only you would know the link to my responses…I don't mind, since I tend to ramble on in my responses, and I could have some more space)  
Hadn't thought about that question before…The female Dees' feet would be more pointed at the front, and the males' would be rounded. There are other small traits among Dees that aren't gender-specific that help identify each other in a crowd. Like, the shade of their fur (as you mentioned), how thick their fur is, how 'blended' their face-fur is with the rest of their fur (I mean, if it's just straight peach to orange, or if there's some light orange fur on the edges of their face), and the shading on their cheeks. And yes, Meta Knight is like that in most of my work. He doesn't cope well with being embarrassed, which usually leads him to start sulking or get angry and do things that make the situation worse…where Dedede would just brush the paint off his face, or pick himself up off the ground, and throw a paint sponge back at whoever hit him.  
Aw, that's neat! I haven't even gotten to play those games yet; I've been too busy making money to enjoy what I bought. ^^; I don't have a physical copy of Crystal Shards, though. Robobot is sorta different from the previous games (or, it feels that way)…I've just had a hard time comparing it. Then again, I can't even pick my favorite Kirby game…I agree on the Drum Dash sequel! I'd totally buy it if they made a full-fledged game out of it!  
It's funny you mentioned that specific group (excluding Dark Matter; the Zero Two fangirls are…ugh), because I actually had several oneshots planned for them back in the day (Adeleine in particular), but they ended up mostly plotless messes that I never finished. I did have one for Magolor up here a while back, but I deleted it because I was always nervous that the Magolor fans would murder me for it. And there's one I finished with Adeleine…but I didn't post it here. It wasn't that good, but it's posted somewhere else. If you want to look for it, type in 'Kirby It's Her Choice'…but it's not really that good.  
I do plan interaction with past characters, but I can't guarantee all of them seeing that that would be sorta hard to do (like Dark Mind…still haven't decided on what his deal is…and maybe Susie, too…) The ones I favor are a bit…forgotten among the fandom though, I feel.  
I actually wanted to write a specific story about the Dedede and Kirby relations, but I want to make sure the scenario is perfect, so…keep a look out for it! There's actually a lot that I put behind the quartet's relations with each other, but I just struggle putting it all in one story. As for the events about Nightmare, my base is that the anime ended, and they defeated him, but Meta ended up moving away a month or two afterwards, without anyone, and Dedede relocated to the Dedede castle in Kirby's Dream Land (still finalizing their reasoning…) When the game plot of Kirby's Dream Land took place, Kirby just ended up hanging around in the country with some of the friends he'd made on his adventure. As for Nightmare returning, I view him as a monster based on negative emotion…sorta like Bogmire in Luigi's Mansion. So he ends up gaining power again at the point of Adventure, but at this point, the king has had a bit of character development, and tries to do what he can, and…the game does the rest. I left out a lot, but only because this has gotten so long._

 _I certainly will, and thank you. : ) Yes, I finally feel like this chapter is perfect!_


	12. Look Toward the Past, Toward the Future

_…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _In the photo, the aqua-colored puffball was smiling happily down at the chocolate-furred Waddle Dee and their child. The baby was slightly discolored, and he looked rather weak and sick, but overall he was a quiet child who rarely cried unless he was hurt. The mother Dee held the little puff and his gigantic, fuzzy cap…not caring about how disadvantaged he was compared to other infants. Not even caring if he was compared to Kirby. It…_

 _It seemed like she cared about him anyway, despite all this._

 _But…_

…

How was he supposed to care about _her?_ He didn't know her. It had been over two decades since he'd seen her, provided that he had any memory of her at all, being an infant.

 _But…she's…my mother…_

 _She_ _ **loves**_ _me…_

Despite the heat, Meta Knight pulled his cape around himself, walking back over to the tree roots and situating himself in a tight crevice. He _really_ didn't feel very good. As a matter of fact, he felt…guilty…

 _This is so awkward…What do I do?_ Meta Knight stared up at the treetops, almost wishing for someone to come and explain it to him.

 _She's my mom. I should feel sympathy for her. I should_ _ **love**_ _her. But…I never knew about her until today, so how can I do that? I feel sorry for her, but…ugh; Meta, you're a horrible person! You wanted a family, and now you have one! Aren't you the least bit satisfied? Don't you care about her at all?_

But…he was still stuck with that problem. That guilt.

Because how can you care about someone who you never knew existed?

Familial bonds…He didn't know much about them, and he certainly didn't know how they came into existence. There wasn't any straight answer he could get from anyone. Asking why a child loved their parent, or sibling, or aunt, or cousin just yielded a smile and the answer "Because they're my family!" And even asking an adult, the mature, responsible one of the situation, only turned up the same justification. Because they were _related_.

No matter how much time he spent thinking on it, Meta Knight simply could not understand the reasoning behind it. Out of two strangers, how could one of them be more important and trustworthy than another, simply because their genetic structure was more similar to one's own? There were so many people in the universe who looked similar, or had the same magical powers, or lived in the same place and relied on the same things, but weren't related…and therefore, merited no trust from those similar people, despite having shared genetics from their species. Though, some people did jump to the 'related to me' conclusion when there were enough similar qualities. Even he was guilty of that…

 _What…am I going to tell Kirby about this, anyway?_

Did Kirby deserve to know anything about this? Did _anyone_ need to know about this? Not telling Dedede would be a direct lie; the king's documents recorded him as an orphan, and that wasn't true. But outside of the penguin…who else would find out? Who else would even care? It would be a lot harder to interact with Kajinara without telling his friends about things, but…

 _…_ _but what if they think differently of me?_

Would Kirby still care about him? After all they'd been through, he…probably would, perhaps? One reason that the two had grown close was because they believed they were related, or at least close to it, since there were no other puffballs in the universe that they'd seen. Looking back, that reasoning seemed a bit stupid. But…would Kirby still love him, even if they weren't related? Meta Knight hoped so. For so many years, he'd admired the pink puff from afar, hoping that they could be on good terms someday. To have that snatched away…just wouldn't be fair. But now that he was genetically closer to a Waddle Dee than to his black-hole kin, of which only Kirby remained alive…would the pink puffball still be willing to keep the bond they had already…or would he care about him less because he was just a friend…?

Kirby was so perfect, it wasn't as if he couldn't find a thousand more friends to replace him with, anyway…just like everyone else had…

 _No, Meta; his Majesty and Bandana Dee still cared about you when they knew there was no way you were related to them…so maybe Kirby won't care, either! It—It's still a thought, right?_

Oh no. What would _Bandana Dee_ think of this?

Meta Knight moaned. He really _was_ a part of the Dee's tribe now…

Genetically, he wasn't directly related to anybody but Kajinara…unless she had relatives in the tribe that he wasn't aware of. But by those mysterious familial bonds, _she_ was part of the tribe's family, and therefore, _he_ was part of the tribe's family. Plus, from her genetics, wouldn't he be…?

 _Wait…_

 _But that means…_

…

Something.

Something in the puff's chest twisted the wrong way.

He felt sick…

 _Wait a minute…_

 _Her genetics, plus my father's genetics…I'm a Pikonyan, but…my mother is_ _ **not**_ _…so…where does that leave me?_

He couldn't be anything but a Pikonyan. He just _had_ to be a rare space guardian. He'd built his whole life around fulfilling the role that all members of his species had to fill. If he wasn't one of those special creatures, then that would mean that almost half of his struggles and pain would have absolutely no purpose or reason in his life. But just because he looked like a Pikonyan, and was able to utilize their abilities…did that really mean he was one, completely? He'd disguised himself as other species plenty of times, and used abilities similar to theirs…so could that mean…that maybe…

…was he really a pure-blooded Pikonyan, or…was he something else, potentially something else less special…?

 _No...That's not plausible…_

 _But it's not a fact you can ignore…_

 _A fair person takes in every aspect of the truth. And the truth is, I'm…_

He stared at his paws, and then his feet. The wings on his back twitched, which reminded him to test them and see if they really flapped the way they should. The nerves in his body prickled uncomfortably as he tried to pick out something; _anything_ that might have potentially been wrong with him. He didn't know what to think of himself anymore. What was he? He'd thought he was a puffball all his life, but now?

Now that was a lie.

Now he might not be a puffball.

The way he'd thought of himself was turned upside down, because now…

 _I'm part Waddle Dee…_ The sapphire puffball placed a paw on his forehead. _I'm not…really a pure-blooded Pikonyan like Kirby after all…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_ _What does this mean? What…What_ _ **am**_ _I; what does that make me?_

 _It makes me…different from everybody else…_

He wasn't one species or another anymore…He was _half_ of a species, and half of another. Or was it equally split? Or just a random proportion? He had to be more puffball than Waddle Dee, or else he'd look more like one…right?

Wrong. Well, not really, but he didn't know much about genetics, so any guesses he made weren't guaranteed to be valid. If only he had some facts. Solid, _logical proof_ that he was worrying about nothing and he didn't have a thing to be concerned with. But he had no proof. He didn't have any facts to even _build_ a proof with. Meta Knight was aware of his species' basic abilities and powers, and he knew a slight bit about their anatomy, but the actual growth and inner functions of his species were completely beyond him. He hadn't considered it very important, so he'd focused his attention on other, more important things, like academics, fighting, and magic (and some, ehem, less-than-academic technological hobbies; like video games…) Now that he was thinking about it, however, it wasn't as if there was a vast number of books on that sort of thing, either.

But his wings had grown so early…It had been years since he'd gotten them, while Kirby was still running around as if he'd just stepped out of his spaceship yesterday. But if Kirby was truly such a 'normal' child, why did he have access to any copy ability he wanted, when Meta Knight himself still had decades ahead of him if he wanted the same powers? Puffballs took years to learn and then advance their copy abilities, particularly when they were younger and inexperienced. In order to use more than a few moves in each ability when a puff was still a child, one had to devote extra time and energy to battle training or general practice with it, whereas Kirby didn't have to train at all on his own. Admittedly, Meta Knight did know how to use the basic seven copy abilities of their species and a few others, but his practice as a younger child had yielded no advances in skill. At some point, he'd eventually surrendered to just learning Sword and Ice; Sword because every puffball wanted to learn it, and Ice because sapphire-colored puffs were supposed to know Ice instinctively. How ironic that Kirby, as a pink puff, just _had_ to have Sword as his instinctive power. Meta Knight would never confess this to anyone, as nobody would understand, but…it was just _so easy_ to be jealous of Kirby. Kirby's abilities were everything any puffball could ever want. Kirby was special; spectacular, even.

…or…

…was he?

All these years, Meta Knight had thought it was Kirby who was _spectacular_ , and himself who was _normal_. But…what if, all along, Kirby's abilities were simply normal…and perhaps, for some odd reason in genetics…Maybe…he couldn't copy things as well? Maybe he was defective. Maybe some of those copy abilities that he just couldn't grasp correctly were things he'd never be able to use anyway. If he didn't have the physical abilities and powers to pull off an attack or a copy ability, it would make sense that he would fail to utilize them.

 _But is it because part of me is messed up, or is it because I'm just…different…? What if…What if_ _ **Kirby**_ _is normal, and I'm…just screwed up?_

If…he wasn't a member of either of his parent species…was he alone…? Truly, no Waddle Dee in the universe would be likely to form a romantic relationship with a cute-faced space puffball that lived infinitely—at least, not anytime soon. His species was borderline, if not outright, extinct, so a combination of those two species wasn't probable to hope for. So what _was_ he, anyway? _Was_ he a puffball? Or would he never be able to say that about himself again? Why did he keep beating his head against the wall on this topic?

 _Ironic, isn't it, Meta?_ The puff smirked to himself. _You wanted something about you that was special. Well, isn't this something? Not exactly what you were thinking of, hm._

 _…_

 _Am I some sort of unnatural anomaly? I know there are separate species names for certain types of mixed breeds of creatures…but what about mixed_ _ **species**_ _? That would be odd._

How many ways could you mix 'Pikonyan' and 'Waddle Dee'? Even 'puffball' and 'Waddle Dee'… 'PuffDee'? 'Wonyan'? 'Waddle Puff'? None of those sounded even remotely appealing. At least, to him.

 _Forget that. The only thing I can call myself, as far as a species goes, is Kajinara's child…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_ _But who cares about that?_

 _I'm Kajinara's child._

 _She's my mother_ _ **.**_

 _She's my mother and_ _ **I should love her instead of whining about not being a space guardian.**_

Well. Back where he started.

Of course, it didn't help that this was so confusing. Meta Knight honestly wasn't sure of any way to accurately and constructively expression his frustration with all this uncertainty. How did someone deal with something like this? Who would even _have_ to deal with something like this? It wasn't a simple math problem, where he could just look up some information and find out what he needed to do; who the heck would have this sort of experience? What was the right way to go about these things? How was he supposed to deal with all this and what was expected of him? Was he considered part of the tribe now? What did they do all day? Or were things just allowed to keep going on like they had before, disregarding what just happened? What would change because of this _and what wouldn't?_

He didn't know…He was locked in a situation where there was no way to get help about dealing with it; no previous experience to learn from and no advice to gather from research. His only option was to plow forward blindly, making those mistakes himself and testing things out as he went along. And while this may have been of little concern to the rest of the quartet, to Meta Knight, functioning under such circumstances may as well have been directly equivalent to stepping out on a minefield…a fenced-in minefield with no possible escape routes. If there was one thing Meta Knight hated, it was making mistakes. This was usually because these mistakes could have been avoided as a direct result of research, experimenting, or common sense. But here? …Well. What did one do when they found their long-lost parent since two-and-a-half decades?

 _Yes, Meta. What are you going to do, to interaction and associate with your long-last parent who hasn't seen you in two-and-a-half decades?_

He had no idea how to deal with this situation.

However, being Meta Knight, he _did_ always have a solution on how to deal with situations he had no idea how to deal with, though it sometimes made him sick: Pretend to ignore what had happened, and stuff it in the farthest depths of his mind he could muster.

…

…

…

…

…

It didn't work.

And he was starting to feel sick.

 _Oh, come on, Meta…_ The puff shifted to the side, putting his wings away in favor of grasping his cape. _Stop being such a whiny, baby puffball. Other people have…much worse problems than this…_

But it was so irritating not knowing…!

 _Dang it, Meta…_ He pulled his cape over his face, squirming uncomfortably. _Stop that. Stop being stupid. Don't…Just, focus on feeling like yourself again. Being half Waddle Dee isn't going to change much of anything, is it? It might explain a few things, but you'll just have to become accustomed to dealing with those; it's not like this is going to change your life or friends or…_

…Oh wait. He'd forgotten…

 _This would change my relationship with_ _ **Kajinara**_ _, of course. How am I supposed to be someone's child when I don't even know how to act like one? Every kid has a soft spot for their parents, correct? So I suppose I should be different when I'm around her…perhaps. Maybe. What does Bandana Dee do around his parents and sibling…? I should've paid more attention to that._

Of course, there was one advantage that he had. Outside of academic-level material, Meta Knight loved reading stories about adventures and friendship and families. Certainly, there had to be at least _some_ truth in those fictional relationships, right? He could certainly be obedient to rules and customs if he had to; heck, he'd considered those sort of things before he even set foot at this _gathering._ He could only assume that most parents wanted a mature, intelligent child with spectacular abilities and…well, the books hadn't gone too far past that, but he could at least fight and do math! Certainly, that had to count for _some_ reason for her to like him…or, for her not to be ashamed to call him her child…

 _But…_

What if she was still disappointed in him? He wasn't a Waddle Dee; he didn't know her…He didn't know his father either, so he couldn't even try to live up to his dad's legacy…And he didn't know anything about Waddle Dee traditions…Honestly, Meta Knight already felt as if he didn't belong on Popstar anyway, being so different. What if Kajinara would take all that into account, negatively? What if…What if she didn't care about him if he wasn't good enough for her…?

 _Well, wasn't_ _ **she**_ _the one hoping for_ _ **you**_ _to care about her? And now_ _ **you**_ _are the one who's looking to impress_ _ **her**_ _._

Did that mean…Did that mean that he loved her…?

…

…

…

He…He did want to love her. She seemed cool, and respectable, and polite, and...

…and…she was his mother. He shouldn't have to have any more justification than that.

Was it really okay to completely fling himself into this relationship, though? Trusting someone he didn't even know, because they were his mother? …That sounded rather stupid. He would tell anyone else that they should trust their parents; it would be hypocritical to not follow that advice.

But this was so strange…! How could someone he didn't even know _honestly care_ about him? How was he supposed to understand that?! She barely knew him, yet…she already cared about him? Although…she was his birth mother. If she hadn't wanted him, she wouldn't have decided to have a child…so certainly, her intentions would _have_ to be caring for him. The only purpose of a parent's job was caring for their children, correct? Then with that evidence and logic, the chance that Kajinara genuinely cared about him was very probable.

 _She's a family member. If she's a family member, and fictional tales have any truth in them, the parents always care about their children no matter what. It's always open love when it comes to parents, remember? The parents…love their children. They always love their children._

 _…_ _more than anything else…even when the children don't reciprocate that love instantly…_

Though he wasn't aware of it, the puff let a smile slip across his face.

 _Maybe she won't mind your faults. Maybe she might…not mind that you're such a secret math nerd, or that you're so reliant on a thesaurus for everything. Come on, Meta—how bad could this…_

This could go badly. If he pursued this relationship, he really _would_ be stuck with her until one of them died. What if there was something about her that he didn't like? What if—

 _How ironic. If she's going to excuse your faults, why would you care about hers? Honestly; how bad can she be anyway? She prefers a sword! Surely, you've at least got_ _ **some**_ _common ground, correct? You're misjudging her, Meta. Take a shot. She seems nice…_

But so had all those other people who betrayed him…or backstabbed him, or said that he was better off dead than even acquainted with them, or just used him to get—

 _But she's my family! They weren't!_ The puff rolled over, sitting up straight and stretching his arms and wings. That bad feeling in his chest had started to fade, and the forest seemed a little brighter and happier. _She_ _ **has**_ _to care about me. She said she did. And she's related to me…right? If all those other families are willing to care about their relatives…_

 _…_ _she should care about me, right…?_

 _She might love me._

The smile on his face only grew as he pulled his wings back out and readjusted the bandana on his head. He'd forgotten he still had it on.

 _At least I look like I belong here now. I have a piece of headgear just like the rest of the Dees._

It made him feel a bit more secure about things. Meta Knight didn't particularly care too much about fitting into society, but in the case of being part of a Dee tribe now, he figured he should at least have _some_ common ground with them. Even if it _was_ just a hat.

 _But wait…I wonder if Kajinara would appreciate it if she knew I still kept that cap. It might actually fit me properly now that I'm older. I should slip out tonight and fly back to grab it for—_

Something sharp pierced the puff's arm, and he couldn't help but let out a surprised cry. He froze almost instantly, desperately wishing that the searing pain would stop and that he'd just walked into a thorn bush or something.

Instead, as he turned his arm into view, he was greeted by some odd liquid, his blood, and what appeared to be a spearhead, with nothing else attached to the weapon. The puff glanced around quickly, trying to process what was happening and where the projectile had been launched from.

 _Someone just shot me._

Of all the things to encounter at a Waddle Dee party, Meta Knight had prepared for but not expected armed ambushes, particularly when he was by himself. But in that moment, someone _had_ attacked him, and could be aiming to shoot him again. From what he could see, there was nobody in the surrounding area. Whoever it was had to be sniping him from above, in the trees. He did have Galaxia, but fighting directly would require him to seek out the enemy and engage them in hand-to-hand combat, which would give them plenty of time to see him coming and shoot him again. And while magic projectiles were tempting, he was in a forest full of large trees and very flammable vegetation. Launching a sword beam or a fire blast would either crush him under a tree or burn the forest to a crisp.

 _Take Galaxia out anyway! You can still hit them with electricity!_

But as he moved his good arm to withdraw his sword, he realized that staying still would make him an easy target. Despite the pain, Meta Knight grasped his injured arm and awkwardly broke into run—just as another spearhead cracked the roots behind him. Could he make it out of the woods before they hit him? One of his friends would surely be within range, and though he was certain he could deal with this himself, it would be nice to have some backup just in case.

…He hoped they were close. His arm was really hurting him when he moved, and he wished he could slow down so he could stop jostling it. As his friends had found out over their adventures, Meta Knight didn't tolerate pain too well. A good hit or few would completely take him down, so the puff had to fight carefully and quickly to avoid taking damage. If he didn't get hit again before he made it to safety, he'd be okay—

The puff squeaked in surprise as another projectile barely missed him.

…but if he went down and his friends didn't know about it, he wouldn't be doing much fighting against the enemy, to be sure…

* * *

As soon as Kajinara had finished her conversation with her son, she'd fled when she was out of his line of sight. She couldn't stand being around him any longer; having to wonder whether this was all just an absurd joke, or if he was just being polite when he told her he didn't hate her.

She still loved him. After all these years, that rush of emotions she'd felt when she looked at him proved that she'd not been able to move past events that happened over two decades ago. As coldhearted as it sounded, grieving for someone that long shouldn't be plausible. Surely there had to be a time to move on.

And she'd tried to do that. She thought she had. Maybe she had managed it, at some point.

…But after all that time and work of trying to forget, here was her sweet little child, staying in her tribe's camp without a clue to his background, and everything she'd built up to protect herself from those memories was suddenly threatening to come crashing down.

 _I still love him._

 _I'm_ _ **so glad**_ _I still love him._

 _But…_

The Dee would have frowned if she'd been able to, though the rest of her posture and expression gave her feelings away well enough.

… _I don't know this boy. He's my child, but…I've not even lived with him for a year. How…Why should I still care so much about him, when I don't even know if he still cares about me…?_

 _Why…_

 _Why should he care about me? He doesn't even know me. For all he knows, I could be lying to him…_

 _But I miss him. I missed him so much…_

Kajinara clenched her paws, striking at some nearby thistles with the first weapon she could pull out of her headdress. The sword sliced cleanly through the weeds.

...

 _If he doesn't care about me…so be it._ She withdrew her blade and tossed it back into her headdress. _It won't be any different a scenario than how the rest of my family ended up…If he doesn't need me, I don't really have a need for him, either..._

With that, she slowed her pace, and continued walking to the village. The forest was behind her now, and maybe…maybe she could keep the past behind her, as well…

* * *

C/N: I don't really like how this chapter and the last have both been very expositiony/get-into-the-characters'-heads, only because they're back-to-back, but the next chapter is going to be back to normal with more conversations, quartet action, etc. so hopefully that makes it better.

On actual story focus, looks like Kajinara's view of the situation is slowly declining. Meta's trying to hope for the best, but his past experiences with relationships gone wrong make him pessimistic about maintaining close relationships. The quartet and Sailor Dee are his only exceptions, and in this canon, that's only because they've _shown_ that they would save his life over letting him die or suffer. So. HMMMMM...

On another note, I may make a journal on dA about things relating to this story. If you're on dA, check it out. If not, you can read it there and if you feel compelled to answer any points, you can leave a review back here. I also have a poll on my profile for this story; nothing serious, just opinion-fishing. :)

 _And in case I haven't mentioned this already: **Thanks SO MUCH for reading.** I don't actually check to see how many people view this (as to me, the reviews, favs, etc. are a more accurate standing sometimes), but it makes me so happy to see people review and favorite this, and ultimately enjoy this. _

**Reviewer Replies:**

 **Indigo Puff:** That's the best part: **it was never a reunion to begin with**! Bandana Dee's family all live in the same place together, so it's not a 'reunion' for the tribe because they all see each other every day. (There was a line in the narration of 'Introduction' that poked at this.) That means that it's just a party, which would make the title useless…unleeeeess it was referring to something else…  
Awesome to see support for the Robobot fics! I've been working on them bit by bit.

 **I'mSpiderman:** Haha, I wasn't sure if anyone'd figure out to look over on dA! Glad you liked the plot twist!  
Hmmmm…I'll try to give no hints…but I grinned while reading that. I'm glad you enjoyed the rewrite, and the story so far. It means a lot to me.

 **Meow:** Hello again! It's been a while on my end…  
I don't think there's any limit on how many art pieces you can upload to deviantArt, and if there is, it's really high. I've seen people with over 700 uploads and counting before. And no, there's no other way to communicate outside reviews without an account. But don't worry about the space—well, unless this site cuts your review off. That always happens to me.  
To your question, I don't remember the answer exactly, but I do have it in some old files for the story. It will come up sometime in-story, though.  
I actually do prefer to write in the gameverse alone…but, there are a few concepts from the anime I like to keep, so I just try to stay in a mix. However, my future stories don't involve the anime much, if at all. Plus, I've found throughout talking to people and reading reviews (on my own stories and other people's) that bringing the anime into a game story sets up the expectation that it's going to be an anime story with all the anime stereotypes, and I don't like that forced upon me. I feel somewhat trapped though, because I think a lot of the Kirby audience on this site is here solely for anime-related content, so if I don't include it, people will think it's bad.  
As for Dedede, his bonds will be some of each. He lived and was raised with his servants, but he had enough time to get attached and bond with his parents before they died, so he still remembers what his family was like.

 **Moon** : Their ages are never stated in either anime or games. It's completely open-ended. Plus, we don't know how old any of the other characters are in relation to each other; 200 years in their universe could be 5 years in our equivalent.  
And, for Knuckle Joe, I'm afraid I already have most of the plot planned out. I can't change much of it without messing up the story's direction. But thank you for the suggestion.


	13. Oh No

**Chapter 4, Part 1**

* * *

In less than ten minutes of nimble dodging and trying to confuse his attacker, Meta Knight had cleared the forest and was currently a safe distance away from the trees, hopefully out of range of his enemy's weapon. The sapphire puffball stopped, standing motionless as he clung to his arm, panting heavily.

 _If you want to fight me…Come on out. I'm armed and waiting for you, now. I_ _ **dare**_ _you to step out of that forest and quit hiding in the trees._

…He really hoped they wouldn't, though. His side was covered in blood and as time passed, he found it was a little harder to breathe than normally. Plus, the weather must have gotten warmer while he was in the forest. That was the only explanation as to why his body was uncomfortably hot. Meta Knight folded his tense wings, pulling out his cape to try and shield himself from the heat using the garment's dimensional powers. Due to his injury, however, he could only hold one side around him…and besides that, he wouldn't look as cool and mysterious if he got bloodstains all over his cape.

What was he supposed to do now…? Whatever had attacked him was probably still in the forest. But what was it doing right now? Was it scheming to pursue him? Or…would it go after someone else? Those thoughts made him shudder. Maybe he should have sought them out and battled them anyway. Even if he'd blown up part of the forest, he'd at least have peace of mind…Although, it wouldn't be very polite or chivalrous to destroy your hosts' property, so that was out of the question once again.

But he couldn't just stand here, bleeding on the ground and waiting for something to hypothetically attack him. Meta Knight preferred to pick fights when he was in relatively good health and uninjured, and he had no clue what had just come after him. Rushing back into the forest was obviously not an option, which left him with two other options: Continue standing where he was, or go back to the Waddle Dee village and look for his friends so he could heal himself or that he could buy some time for Kirby to beat whatever it was. He knew that Kirby would usually get the finishing blow on a monster. That was almost always how it went in life with Kirby.

 _Is it okay to leave here?_ The sapphire puffball shifted in place nervously, scanning the surrounding environment. He didn't see anything suspicious, but it was really getting warm out. _What if…it attacks the Waddle Dees while I'm off getting fixed up?_

He just couldn't leave here now. He'd feel guilty if he ended up leading them back to camp. Meta Knight withdrew his sword, glad that he was mainly right-handed. There was still no sign of anyone besides him, however…If only he knew the landscape better. If only he was able to fly without injuring his arm.

And if only he wasn't dripping blood on the Dees' perfectly-maintained trail lined with blooming flowers.

 _If you want to call your friends, why not use your cell phone? It's been off for weeks, so it should still have some battery power left…Yeah, that's not too bad of an idea._ He reached into his mouth and pulled out his phone, booting it up and dialing the first number that came to mind. It was geared to be more of a computer than a phone, much to his delight and his friends' dismay. _Surely, two wanderers and a king should be enough to defend some Waddle Dee families, right?_

 _…_ _and you know, Kajinara can fight. I wonder how many other Dees are secretly fighters—well, besides Kajinara and—_

"Meta; whaddyou want? I'm fixing my turkey bacon, and it smells like _plastic_. I should know by now not to listen to pink puffballs who'll eat anything. So why are you calling?"

With Meta Knight, some things were guaranteed to be given in extremes. So when giving an answer, it could only be obtained by beating around the bush, or the puff being strangely generous and giving a no-holds answer to the question.

 _Shock him, Meta; shock him. Give him the straight-up truth and watch his reaction!_

"Because I'm standing guard outside the tribe's forest, watching to make sure that nothing comes to murder them, and your help would be appreciated," the puff answered bluntly. "After all, I don't make a habit of standing in my hosts' flower beds in the scalding heat."

There was a brief moment of silence on the other end—but only brief.

"First, it's not scalding hot out. Second, why in NOVA's name would something be coming after us to murder us?!" Meta Knight had to hold his phone away from his head, flinching from the king's shouts. "Stop being vague, Meta; get to the point!"

The puff's eyes narrowed. "Something is coming after us, and I can't determine what it is. But it's potentially hiding in the forest and it is armed with projectiles. I'd need Bandana's familiarity with the land in order to combat it efficiently—without property damage, your Majesty. Would you bring him and Kirby to the edge of the village, or whoever you can find, quickly?"

"Well…" Meta Knight heard the phone shift. "Bandana's right here, but I dunno about Kirby. Bandana, can you go find Kirby for me? Or how 'bout you call him?"

"No!" the blue puff added quickly. "Don't send him off. The two of you just come here, now. Don't delay. If you stumble upon him along the way, wonderful. Just be here as quickly as logically possible, okay? Don't goof off along the way, if you would."

Dedede hesitated, and Meta Knight wished he could've seen the king's expression. "Well…okay, Meta. Yeah, I, uh…really think I should, okay? You still there, Meta?"

"Yes," the puff answered, confused. "I'm still here."

He heard murmuring on the other end, but couldn't make out what they were saying. The king must have covered the receiver so he couldn't hear.

"Meta? Tell me my name, and my full title. No, tell me yours. Give me your title and your skills like you'd put on your résumé."

The puffball's face twisted into one of annoyance and potential confusion.

 _Why is he asking me this? Does he think something's wrong here? That I'm not really Meta Knight? Or—wait. Did I say something to make him think I'm out of my right mind?_

"You think I'm joking? I assure you that I have better things to do than waste your time, making the Dees believe they're under attack," the puff snapped back. "Or did you really wish for me to list that request?"

"Uh, just tell me!" was the hurried response.

 _He really wants to know? He better have a good reason…although wait, that's just bragging rights…_

"Title, professional engineer-slash-computer-programmer; skillset includes but isn't limited to CoMap, Mathematica, Matrix Laboratory, Sci/O Interfa—"

"Uhhhh Meta, we'll be right there, okay? Just stay put! Bye!"

Meta Knight could only blink as the king hung up his phone, not even waiting for the puff to say anything in return. What had prompted that? That most definitely warranted suspicion; no doubt he'd be asking Dedede what it was about later. The king hadn't even waited for him to finish what he'd been asked!

 _Whatever. It's Dedede. Dedede wouldn't be himself without the odd bit of spontaneity every so often._ The sapphire puffball glanced around, reassessing the area in case something had slipped his notice while he was on the phone.

Much to his utter bafflement, nothing had changed.

 _Was I just imagining that?_ He glanced at his arm, poking the piece of metal embedded in it. The ensuing pain he felt proved that no, he was not imagining things. **_Ow_** _, well, was I at least imagining my talk with Kajinara?_

He tried to summon his cape to search for the photo, but for some reason, it just wouldn't work. Irritated, he attempted a few more tries, but like before, nothing happened.

 _This is freaky…This has never happened before, that I can remember…_

He really needed to summon his cape…The temperature was rising quicker than he'd ever thought possible for Popstar. Was this the work of whoever shot him? Though, Dedede hadn't noticed…maybe it was just Dedede; his kind were used to the heat. Was it even possible for the area to warm up this fast, though…? Bandana Dee would have surely mentioned something if this was a natural occurrence; this level of heat was uncomfortably high, and Meta Knight couldn't help but feel that something was off.

The knight stepped back into the flowers, wondering if the lush grass would feel any cooler on his feet. It provided temporary relief, but his body heat soon absorbed the coolness. Frustrated, the puff splayed out on his tummy, trying again to summon his cape before the ground became as hot as he was. What was wrong with everything? First Dedede, then the heat, and now he couldn't even use his own magic? Something was wrong here, and Meta Knight intended to figure out what.

…

…why was he out here in the first place, anyway? He tried to sift through his thoughts, but he couldn't find any that would give him an answer. He _knew_ there was a reason; he just couldn't remember…what…was happening here…

Why was everything dark? That usually meant he'd passed out for some reason; he remembered that much…but, why would he faint now? Blood loss alone wouldn't cause him to lose consciousness… _Why couldn't he remember anything?!_

 _Relax, Meta. If you just lay here for a little while, you should feel better. The dizziness will wear off, you'll wind up as your normal self again, and then you can go ask Dedede if something's wrong with you and he'll probably say yes and give you some medicine that you'll refuse anyway._

But still, why was it so _hot_ …?

…

Actually, the warmth felt…kind of nice, now. It was like a soft, heavy blanket, protecting him from the outside world, whose sounds were completely obscured at this point. He couldn't hear anything except the rush of his own blood; that and the sensation of heat were the only things he was aware of. He couldn't even feel himself breathing.

 _Just keep…thinking, Meta. It's…It's not like you…haven't resisted fainting before…_

 _Someone will come…or maybe, you'll just wake up. You're just…waiting for now… waiting on your…own body…so just…try…to get…back up, and…stay awake so…all…this…will…go…away…_

 _…_ _maybe…_

 _…_

Though he tried his hardest not to lose awareness, blissful unconsciousness slipped up on the puffball without him realizing it. With a quiet sigh, the puff's body relaxed, his injured arm falling limp to his side.

He was alone, injured, and not in his right mind…but at least, he was left undisturbed by any unpleasant intruders, lying peacefully in the Dees' bed of forget-me-nots…

* * *

"Great King! G-Great King, we're going TOO FAST!"

"I'm barely jogging, Bandana! You're just too small to know that!"

Bandana Dee winced, hoping with all his might that his king wouldn't trample anything. Maybe if he pretended that he wasn't squashed under the penguin's left arm, being dragged through camp without explanation, everything would be better. Maybe Dedede would slow down and walk. Maybe he would put the Dee down.

And most importantly, maybe he would stop jogging while looking at his cell phone. Bandana Dee had no idea how the king hadn't stepped on any Waddle Dees yet.

"G-Great King, you know, I could tell you where to go—"

"Don't need to, Bandana." Before the Dee could process what was happening, he was standing on his own two feet again on a dirt trail. "There's Meta and his phone right over there, and—aw, shoot. Hey Meta, wake up…Come on, wake up already; I don't like it when adorable puffballs look like they're about to have a seizure…"

Bandana Dee blinked a few times, taking a few seconds to re-orient himself with his surroundings. True to the king's word, they'd ended up on the outskirts of camp…it's just, the world was spinning so quickly, it was hard to tell where…

"Oh. The forest," the Dee mumbled aloud, rubbing his forehead as his view of the world settled. He turned to look for Dedede. "Great King, do you need any help?"

"Of course I do! Wake him up!" the penguin snapped, shoving the Dee forward a few steps. "We're sitting here and he's not okay and I can't do anything!"

Bandana Dee quickly glanced over the fallen puffball, noting the smears of blood on the flowers, but also noting that the puff was breathing too quickly. He began examining the puff for injuries, finding the spearhead in a second. As the Dee moved the puff's arm to get a better view of the wound, Dedede turned his head.

"Ugh, _Bandana_ …I don't like severe wounds in real life that much, so is it bad, or should I not look?"

"Huh?" The king watched horror movies, and didn't like blood? Although, he did say 'in real life'… "Um, it's not really that bad at all; it's right along his muscles. I don't think it did much more to him than making him bleed a lot."

"Ohhhh, Bandana…" Dedede glanced around quickly before examining the puff himself. "Oh, Meta; why do you always have to be the bearer of bad news…I thought we were gonna _enjoy_ ourselves this week, and now we gotta clean up some bad guys…"

Bandana Dee stiffened, remembering why they were out here in the first place. "Great King, could one of us go back to camp and warn the others that something's out here? We don't know how long ago Meta got attacked, and whatever came after him could be coming after my family!" The Dee jumped to us feet, starting to worry. "Great King, please; we have to do _something!"_

It was times like these—times when there was an injured puffball at his feet, a panicking advisor right next to him, and a pink puffball out and about without any knowledge that something could be coming to kill him—that Dedede wished he wasn't the first person to give orders on things. It was times like these where he really wished he could regroup his thoughts first, and _then_ make a decision.

Unfortunately, these times came up quite often, but at least he had an idea of what to do.

"Okay, Bandana; here's the deal." The king reached down and scooped Meta Knight into his arms, somewhat disturbed at how warm the puff's body was. Blood loss alone didn't give someone a fever, right? "I go back to camp and find a way to patch Meta up. You got any doctor?"

"Of course, Great King; their house is around the other side of camp."

Dedede rolled his eyes. "Well, great. So I'll dump Meta off there, and then who do I find to get help from?"

"Oh! Um…" Bandana Dee thought for a moment. "Well, here's the deal. The chief of the tribe is named Benjamen. Find him, and here's what you say…"

* * *

It was quiet back in camp, away from her son…well, this side of camp, anyway. It was mostly empty, too. Kajinara liked being alone, ever since…well…things had happened…

But she hadn't intended to be alone for long. She'd come to this side of camp to ask Cody for some advice—if she dared. Cody was wise and knowledgeable; she had five children of her own and was Kajinara's legal guardian. If anyone would know how to handle relationships with children, it would certainly be Cody, right? Cody, who'd taught her how to do chores, and play games, and read books, and fight monsters, and—

"Kajinara. I have a job for you, if you would. Scouting job."

The chocolate-furred Dee instantly spun around upon hearing who was asking that of her. "Yes, sir? What is it? What would you like me to do?"

"This may be nothing, but…" The honey-colored Dee talking to her was quite old, clearly a figure of respect. As if his position in the tribe didn't give that away first… "While I was passing through, I saw young Taylor being dragged out of camp by our king, and both of them seemed to be in quite a hurry. Would you check up on them? I know it may just be young men goofing off, but they…No; I don't want to spread rumors. Just, ensure the safety of our guests if you would please, Kajinara. I could have sent any random Dee just to check, but I know you're our best scout, and if anything happens, I'd want you there over anyone else. You understand, don't you?"

Kajinara hoped that the Dee didn't see her blushing from his praise. He probably had. "O-Of course, sir. Just point me where to go, and I'll—"

"Over toward the forest, Kajinara. I'm sure enough Dees heard the king shouting to point you in the right direction."

"He really is loud, isn't he, sir?" Kajinara commented absentmindedly, starting to walk away. The other Dee would have grinned if he'd been able.

"Reminds me of myself, honestly. Ha ha ha!"

The scout wasn't sure what to think of the remark as the elder Dee walked away.

 _That doesn't matter though, Kaji; right? You've got Dees to protect, so get going. You can finally use your fighting skills._ Kajinara smirked at the thought, already reaching to pull at her headdress. _You can show Cody how well you can do, just as soon as you get to the—_

 _…_ _oh no._

The forest. The direction he'd been pointing to was near the forest. The footprints on the ground (was the penguin king really that big? She'd not been close to him yet…) were in the direction of the forest.

Kajinara instantly quickened her pace, thinking the worst of what could happen.

 _Mikaru's okay, right Kajinara? There's no way something would have happened in…oh Nova; it's been half an hour. That's_ _ **definitely**_ _enough time for something to happen. But what?_ _ **What**_ _could happen to him? Is it even him, or someone else? Oh, it's probably him or that pink Pikonyan; why else would our king be involved in this? Mikaru, please; I didn't mean to leave you alone! …no, I_ _ **did**_ _. Why am I such a horrible pare—_

"Oof!"

Kajinara collided with someone and lost her balance, falling onto her bottom. After the initial stun from the blow wore off, she realized she was staring at a familiar, orange-and-cream colored Dee with a white chef's hat. The other Dee offered her a paw, and the scout quickly accepted their help.

"Kaji?" Miki tilted her head. "What's wrong? You've been acting a little weird lately; what's with it? First Reggie, and now you…is something wrong with me? You can tell me, Kaji; we're friends!"

"Hm?" _Oh, NOVA, I don't have_ _ **time for this!**_ "Miki no; it's nothing like that. I've got a job though so I'll talk to you later thank you bye!"

Kajinara dashed off, knowing that Miki was probably staring after her with another skeptical expression. It didn't matter; she was almost where she needed to go. She just needed a few more seconds to make it to the edge of camp.

 _Miki staring doesn't_ _ **matter**_ _right now; something's wrong here and the chief won't tell me! Why won't he tell me? That's NOT a good sign! I—_

Kajinara suddenly felt herself smash to the ground again, except with far more force than she'd experienced a few moments ago. The scout moaned; what had she run into _this_ time? It wasn't a tent, but it was certainly something bigger—

"Holy NOVA, are you okay? I didn't see you coming, you were so fast!" A giant hand took her paw, pulling her back onto her feet and then dusting off her headdress. Kajinara let them do what they wanted, clutching her sides. Her impact with the ground had _definitely_ been a lot harder than when she'd bumped into Miki. "Hey, can I ask you something real quick?"

The scout rubbed her eyes, looking up at the person she'd run into—and then had to look up even further, just to make eye contact.

 _Oh no…How_ _ **embarrassing**_ _…_

She'd just smashed into none other than the king of Dream Land and the Sky Kingdom himself, and now she looked like a careless ditz instead of a refined scout.

"Of course you can ask me something, Great King…" she answered, trying to ignore the dull pain resonating through her tiny body. "I'm always glad to be of service to you…"

Dedede's expression brightened. "All right, cool! So uh, do you know where the chief of the tribe is? Bandana—um, Taylor kinda asked me to tell him something…"

"Hm?" Kajinara blinked. "Yes, I do. I just passed him a few moments ago; he's on the other side of camp, over there. Honey-colored fur; you can't mistake him unless it's for our chef."

 _Who's going to be the next chief anyway…_ _ **ugh**_ _; I can't wait to report to_ _ **him**_ _every day…_

"All right." The king shifted his arms, and it was only now that she realized he was holding something. "Well, thanks—and, uh, do you happen to know…"

The chocolate-furred scout froze in place for a few seconds, staring at the blue-clad bundle in the king's arms. She wasn't aware of it, but her eyes had widened considerably, and the pain from her collision with the ground seemed to have faded instantly.

 _That's…no; that's silly—that's not…_

 _Ask him, Kaji; ask him; he could be carrying your child and if he is, your kid is bleeding all over the poor guy!_

 _'_ _Poor guy'? What about 'poor Mikaru; where were the kid's parents?! Who would leave their child in a dense forest all by themselves?' YOU, apparently!_

 _Mikaru's in trouble and_ _ **you're**_ _just_ _ **standing there**_ _!_

 _A scout should at LEAST protect their own children, shouldn't they?!_

 _Yeah, some parent YOU are…you sent him off to the hospital and never saw him again. How can you say you were his parent? That's not what a parent is; a parent loves their kid and defends them and teaches them! The only thing you qualify for is caring about him, and you tried to forget him, so that doesn't even count!_

The king was giving her a strange look, oblivious to the scout's internal argument. It was at this point that Kajinara remembered that he'd asked her another question while she hadn't been paying attention. "Um, I…I don't know? I—"

"Uh, okay, then." The penguin turned, starting to walk away from her. "Thank you, but I gotta go!"

She took a few shaky steps to follow him, but found that she could barely move. "W…Wait. G-Great King."

Dedede stopped, turning toward her with a curious expression on his face. "Huh? What is it? I uh, really need to get moving, uh…what's your name?"

"Great King, what—what happened to him?" Kajinara was standing on tiptoe, trying to see for herself…but compared to the king, she was far too short. "Is he okay…? He's not…"

 _He's not…no, I just left him…_

That couldn't be possible. She had just been out there with him, and nothing had happened. If anything had happened, she would have been there to protect him. He couldn't…No; why was she feeling dizzy all of a sudden?

 _Get a grip on yourself, Kajinara; this isn't how a scout would act._ She slapped herself on the cheek, hoping the king wouldn't find it suspicious. _Straighten up. Pretend he's some other poor mom's problem, not your own. Get back to your neutral expression!_

 _Mikaru, this is all my fault!_

"Um…" The penguin shifted back and forth on his feet. "He's, uh…probably not okay? I know you'd like to know what's going on, but uh…I gotta get going here…"

"Um, I, um—of course, Great King," the scout replied, voice fading out the longer she stared at the puffball. "I just, um…I'm okay…"

Head spinning, Kajinara turned to leave, but before she could retreat more than a few steps, the king called to her again.

"Hey, uh! Excuse me?"

The Dee stopped, wondering what he could possibly want from talking to her.

"I know you didn't answer before, but could you tell me where you have some sort of first-aid kit or something? I'm…kinda lost, here, and I…" Dedede shuffled his feet awkwardly. "…need a little help?"

"Of course, Great King," Kajinara replied, feeling like she should probably sit down soon so she didn't collapse in front of a neighbor's tent. Was this how Cody felt when her children were in danger? No; Cody was stronger than this…most of the time? She remembered a few times where her mentor had had to 'take a break' for a moment, but only after ensuring the safety of her child…which, if she compared herself with the older mother, would make her such a wimp right now.

 _How did Cody not faint when she was protecting her children?_ Kajinara wondered, pointing the king in the direction he needed to go. She vaguely processed that he said something about watching the forest, and in recognition, she dragged her feet toward the edge of camp, instead of after her child like she desired.

 _Cody, seriously…I wish I could talk to you about this, but…_

No. She couldn't. Cody would never approve of her secret romantic affairs, regardless of whether she'd saved her life. She would just have to figure things out on her own, and try to hold off telling Cody until the last possible second. She couldn't bear the thought of disappointing her…but, what if Cody found out before she could explain things? Would that be better, or worse?

 _Huh. After all, you might know already. You always seemed to have an edge on magic, when none of your tribemates stood a chance…_

 _Is Mikaru going to be okay?_

 _Stop thinking about him!_

 _I love him…_

Kajinara felt as if she could break down and start crying on the spot.

 _Cody, I've made some really stupid mistakes, haven't I…? Maybe it would've been better if I'd just kept him, and let him die from premature birth all those years ago. At least I wouldn't have to deal with the heartbreak of seeing him suffer…I don't know if I can_ _ **take**_ _being a parent again…_

* * *

 _Ugh, why was that Dee staring at me? I bet she thinks I murdered Meta or something._ Dedede rolled his eyes, wishing that he was Waddle Dee-sized right now. Anyone in the area stared at him as he passed by, and while the king enjoyed attention, he wasn't really in the mood to be gawked at. Especially when puffball blood was dripping off his fingers and onto his stomach.

 _"_ _Meta? Tell me my name, and my full title. No, tell me yours. Give me your title and your skills like you'd put on your résumé."_

 _…_ _The puff's response was a mix of his native language and a few out-of-place words, like 'pastry' and 'garden' and 'office'._

Had he been aware of what he was saying? Dedede had let an odd word or two slip when he was originally listening to him, but as the puff began making less and less sense, the king decided that he was going to see what was happening for himself. Meta Knight had installed trackers on the quartet's phones, set only to show their location to each other when permitted. Dedede had little clue what he'd have done if he hadn't known where the puff had been; he supposed Bandana Dee would have known where to go, but 'on the outskirts of camp' was _not_ the most helpful description Meta Knight could have given them.

True to what Meta Knight had tried to tell him on the phone, the puffball was hot to the touch. The penguin had no clue why the knight hadn't wrapped his cape around himself, as the cloth reflected heat, but…what mental state had he been in before he passed out? Probably not the best, considering their conversation, but…

 _Gahhh, where's Kirby? Kirby better not be lying out somewhere, either. And—crap, what about Bandana Dee? I just sent him out there to stand by himself where a serial murderer could be! If I can just dump Meta off and have somebody watch him, maybe I can double back to Bandana in time to make sure he survives. It would suck if he died at his own family party thing—_

"Great King? Um, Great King, are you okay?"

Dedede snapped out of his train of thought, staring down to where the voice had come from. He'd almost trampled a mother Waddle Dee by accident. He was about to apologize, but then he snapped back to his thought train.

"Well actually, I'm _not_ okay. Do you uh—actually, do you mind _leading_ me to a doctor or something? I can't get any directions around here…"

* * *

Bandana Dee felt like he was in one of the king's clickbait horror movies.

Everything was quiet, nothing was happening, and all he could do was hold his spear as he wondered whether any of his tribemates were dead.

 _Silva…Oh,_ _ **please**_ _be inside today, Silva…_

Probably not. His little sister loved going out and exploring the forest; she could be lying among the tree roots bleeding to death right now, and he'd never know. If only Meta Knight had been conscious, he could have asked if the puff had come across her…but if he had, wouldn't Silva have followed him back?

 _N-No, Bandana…Silva was with Mom when you left, remember? And Meta's only been gone for…_

Oh no. He hadn't seen Meta Knight since breakfast, which was at least an hour ago…

"Bandana? Do you know what's going on here? The chief sent me."

The wanderer whipped around, almost running Kajinara through with his spear. Fortunately, the scout had the sense to come with a weapon out, and had used a dagger to block the attack. Bandana Dee quickly withdrew his weapon.

"K-Kajinara…I-I-I'm sorry; I just…am a little on edge right now."

The scout nodded. "That would make sense. What happened?"

She didn't know? Then again, Dedede had just left…Had they caused such chaos that the chief was concerned? Bandana Dee hoped that they weren't leaving a bad impression on him…

"My friend was attacked, and I…I don't know where the person who hurt him is. I'm worried about my family…My little sister could be in the forest playing right now…"

Much to his confusion, the scout walked over to the edge of the path near the flower bed, stopped, and stood there, staring blankly into the trees. She toyed with the edges of her headdress, twisting the cloth in her paws. Bandana Dee tried not to stare, but…he knew how to read people. Something was off here, too.

"K…Kajinara, are you okay…?" Bandana Dee ventured. "O-or are you just worried about something?"

The scout was silent for a moment, facing away from him and concealed in her glittering blue headdress.

"…was your friend a small, sapphire Pikonyan, by any chance?"

"Hm?" _Why is she asking_ _ **that**_ _?_ "Uh, yeah, he is…Why?"

The chocolate-furred Dee just stood there, eyes wide, as she pulled the headdress closer around her. Despite being nervous, Bandana Dee moved a little closer to her. "Uh, is something wrong…? I-I don't want to be pushy, but…"

Kajinara sighed. "No, you're not pushy. I just…" She titled her head downwards. "You can go be with your friend. I'll be fine out here." She glanced at him for a brief moment. "Just, if…if he's mad at me…tell him to come talk to me. Not in the forest."

Banana Dee blinked, surprised at her tone of voice.

 _She doesn't sound too good…or_ _ **look**_ _too good. What could have happened to make her like this? Meta said she'd been nervous about something, but this is a little over the top…_

"Wha…? Why would he be mad at you?"

"I asked to speak to him for a little, and we went and conversed in the forest." The Dee would have been frowning if she could have. "I left before he did; I should have made him come back. Especially since—well—" Her paws clenched for a split second. "…uh, he's m—he's a guest; I feel as if I should have paid more attention to things. Forced him to come back, or something. I never foresaw anything like this, though…"

There were a few things on Bandana Dee's mind, but only one that he needed to say out loud.

"Meta asked to talk to you?"

 _Why would Meta need to talk to her?_

"Hm?" The scout looked somewhat surprised. "No, I asked to. You wouldn't understand, Taylor."

"How do you know my name?" the wanderer immediately questioned, perhaps too quickly. It wasn't that he'd put it past Kajinara to find out his name, but…why would she even bother to remember it? She never really talked to anyone. Kajinara's expression shifted, letting a bit of confusion show.

"Why wouldn't I? You're my tribemate."

"Well, I just…" _How awkward._ "…didn't think you'd bother…"

"Of course I'd bother, Taylor." Kajinara turned to face him, and it was at this point that Bandana Dee realized this was the closest to the scout he'd ever been. "I'm one of the tribe's scouts. We're supposed to look after our tribemates. And speaking of looking after my tribemates, I'm sure you'd like to look after and protect your friend as well, correct?"

Bandana Dee hesitated. Why did she want him to leave? And she'd been talking to Meta Knight… "Um, but I can stay here to help you fight!"

"But you don't have to." The scout shrugged, and Bandana Dee noticed that her voice wasn't as feeble as before. "I know you're capable, but having two guards at one spot is pointless. Especially since both of us can handle things ourselves. Our objective is to protect the tribe's guests for now, right? So, unless you want me to guard your friend instead of yourself, I'm not protesting to standing out here by myself. I'll call for help if I need it; don't worry. Just go see your friend."

She had a point…but still, why did she want to be out here alone, right after their guest had been attacked? And she may as well have lured him out there…Bandana Dee was going to have a talk with Meta Knight. Just what had they discussed, in the middle of an isolated forest?

 _Stop it, Bandana. Kajinara's—Kajinara's been a scout for the tribe since before you were born. If she was going to try anything, she would have done it back when you invited Great King to visit._

 _But Kirby and Meta weren't here then…_

Still, standing here arguing with her wasn't going to get him anywhere. Maybe he could retreat a bit, and watch her from afar…although, she'd probably notice him. But who said he had to be subtle about it? He was just concerned for a tribemate, after all.

"Okay," Bandana Dee relented. "But, I'll be back if you need anything."

"Thank you, Bandana." She actually sounded a bit…what was the emotion? Relieved? Happy? No, it wasn't completely happy…He couldn't dwell on it for now. "I swear, I'll call someone if I need help with anything…it just may not be you, okay? It might be Cody, or another scout…but if it makes you feel better, I'll fetch you."

She offered her paw to him, and it was only now that Bandana Dee realized she was left-handed. The two Dees shook paws, and Bandana Dee started heading toward the small medical building the Dees had built, just in case. The scout waved as he left, before turning back to the forest. Bandana Dee couldn't help but notice, however, that she kept glancing around to see if anybody was within eyeshot of her.

 _I wonder…No. I'm not going to accuse her of anything until I talk to Meta. But still…why does she want me to leave so badly? As soon as I make sure the others are okay, I'm going back to stalk her. There's no way this is happening to anyone else at our party._

As soon as Bandana Dee was out of sight, Kajinara glanced around one final time.

She was alone. Finally, nobody watching her.

 _Good. The tribe would probably find it embarrassing if I…If they saw—_

With no one around to stare at her or comfort her, Kajinara pulled her headdress around herself and finally burst into tears.

* * *

 **C/N** : I'd like to casually mention here that Dedede accidentally stopped Meta Knight from revealing a plot point in this chapter. See if you can find it.

Usual excuses (actually **above** usual because I'm spending more than 60 hours a week on intense schoolwork), but I'd also like to thank Metanaito-kyou for the cover for this fic! I…also kinda only completed this chapter because I told Mety I'd update it (whyyyyyyy did I let that slip), so thank Mety a _lot._ I am a penguin of my word…but I'm aware that it's not a good idea to slop 6000 words on the page and not edit them, so if something's rushed or I made a mistake somewhere, call me out on it. I was raising my eyebrow at one or two points and I think Dedede could've said a bit more in his scenes. Just not sure if you guys like the Meta-Dedede friendship; _I personally_ do, but I tried to hold back just because of how overboard I've been going with it behind the scenes.

So uh, important **note** here that might come up later: As Kaji mentioned, Meta was technically born prematurely. Waddle Dees carry their young for a maximum of eight months, whereas puffballs need about eleven months before they're born. Meta (or, Mikaru) was born a little over eight months, which is why him looking sick in his family photo was an important quality—if he'd been born as a pure-blooded _puffball_ , he'd probably have died. It was only due to Kajinara's side of his genetics that his body was able to form quickly enough to support him. As he aged, more of his puffball genetics set into play (thus why he was colored differently as a child), but because he is part Waddle Dee, some of his magic and copy abilities are more unstable than Kirby's (for example, if he copied something, he might not be able to drop the ability, or he might drop it without wanting to), and any other physical changes will take place quicker in his body compared to a normal puff like Kirby, which was one reason he got wings much earlier than the pink puff.

(Which is an interesting detail in canon, because Meta _doesn't_ have any wings in _Kirby's Adventure_ ; he's seen lifting his cape off his back and battling, and nothing's there. And his next appearance in KSS has him making a big show of them when he's chasing Kirby. Taking this perspective, Meta could have grown his wings _during_ the known Kirby timeline and is just showing them off. …maybe it's a part of puffball puberty? -smacked-)

Review Replies:

 **StarWarrior** : Oho, here you have it! Thanks! ^^  
 **I'mSpiderman** : IIIIII'm gonna avoid spoilers; eheh...but thank you! I'm glad you liked Meta's name; it's actually based off an ancient Greek word that'll come up later in the story.  
Meta and Kaji do get a moment together...buuuuut I'm not making any guarantees on anyone's health, safety, or life. But I was aiming for this view on their relationship because like you said, you can't just be all sunshine and rainbows with someone you don't even know. I see that a lot in stories, too. -.- Anyway, thanks! I'm glad you're liking things!  
 **Me** : Aw, why thank you! I also saw your other review; thank you for writing them!


	14. A Note on Update Progress

So uh, hi guys...it's been a while, huh? Yeah, like...'a few months ago' while.

Don't panic; I'm not leaving or abandoning the story or anything. I just wanted to give a brief note about why I haven't updated this lately.

If you were around since the beginning of this fic, you'll know that things were really picking up speed compared to my normal updates. This is because I actually wrote out about 100,000 words of this story in advance (like, WAY back in 2015 when this was only going to be a 7-chapter parody fic), so I was pretty well-prepared.

The only problem with that is...my writing skills leveled up, and those 100,000 words don't look so appealing anymore. They look decent, but they could be a lot better-written. So uh...yeah. I can't use any of those 100,000 words anymore.

Honestly, I WANT to salvage stuff from them. I'm lazy; it would make my life easier. But there are, uh, quite a few major plot and character changes I made in between too. Liiiike you know when Meta Knight was sitting out by himself reflecting a few chapters ago? In those original 100,00 words, he wasn't alone. Bandana Dee came looking for his friend, managed to find him, and persuaded Meta Knight to confide in him about what happened and thus knows all the plot info about Kajinara and Meta Knight's backstory. However, being naturally untrusting and suspicious of people myself, I found that kinda OOC, and as you can see, I decided to change that and rewrote the entire chapter. As a matter of fact, the original chapter with Bandana actually went through five rewrites; I have at least 50,000 in words that didn't even make the _original's_ cut. That says something about some of the things I wanted to touch up.

And besides updating scenes to my current writing style, I also wanted to adjust a few of my headcanons for the world and characters in general. For example, the first chapter of this fic...wait, I did revise that one; I rewrote it completely. ANYWAY, the first chapter (STILL MISTAKENLY) says that Meta Knight is able to store things in his cape. It's not that that's not a neat headcanon (as a matter of fact, it IS neat; I stole it from someone), but I forgot that puffballs can store things in their stomachs anyway, which gives no reason for Meta Knight to do that at all. I'm just patching little things like that, or characters' response to things, or how obvious/unobvious my hints were.

I also decided a while back this year to...crap this was a tough decision...go completely gameverse. Now I don't get _many_ reviews like this, but when I combine game and anime canon (since it IS possible to do canonically), people expect me to do like everybody treats game-anime combo stories and use the anime as the base, treating the games as just a source of inspiration and not actually sticking to any game canon. However, I used the games as the base and used the anime to fill in backstory, which made some people call my canons/theories baseless or say that I was making characters OOC or screwing up facts...since, y'know, they'd only watched the anime. Combine the fact that there aren't a lot, if any, gameverse fics and I made this call.

By making that call, I could eliminate having to shove the GSA into the past timeline and therefore make Meta's past a lot more interesting (as you've seen if you've kept up with Scrapbook). Overall, I'll miss the anime background and the characters it had to offer, but since when is Cos known for doing things that everyone else is doing? My biggest peeve with any fandom is when people just copy stuff over and over and never do anything new even when new canon material comes out. That was one of my reasons for writing this story in the first place, and I should...y'know...really stick with my heart and reasons, even if I lose viewers for doing so.

TL;DR, this story is still being updated. As a matter of fact, I am actually revising some of the older chapters whenever I have writer's block, as you can see from the first and second chapters of this project. **I'm not sure whether to update all of them before posting a new chapter, though, or to post new material and just update the old chapters whenever I feel like it**. I know a lot of my viewers are still active (and probably DON'T remember what happened in any of the previous chapters at this point lol) but any new viewers I'd get would experience severe style whiplash between chapters.

 **I already rewrote chapter 9 (and 1, and 2) just for the heck of it and it didn't take more than a few hours, so check that out and give me a judgment call on that**. The original is posted on my deviantArt account under the same name, buuuut there's probably only 100 words from the original in the rewrite at all, so have fun comparing it. FYI, there are still a few things about the introduction that I wanted to change; mainly introducing important theories/headcanons...buuuuut if you remember the original introduction (also probably on deviantArt), Meta's character development is a _lot_ better explained than before. -.-

But as for new content...fear not! I went through and made a huge outline of all the main things I wanted to happen in the story and which chapters they'd happen in, so writing when I have spare time won't be as hard from now on. (Now I just need spare time :p) My estimate for the project length is about 30 chapters, excluding the epilogue and any bonus scenes I may throw in afterwards.

Also, I, uh...updated the chapter titles. Heh heh. No reason I would mention that at all; it's not like there's anything suspicious about me mentioning that...

Anyway, just wanted to tell you guys what was going on! I WILL delete this chapter and replace it with the update whenever I can finish it, but it's becoming a bit lengthy, so hopefully it will be worth your wait. I've spent more time writing the chapter after that one, so uh...another update should come soon after...?

(I'm also in need of a better description; what can I say that sounds interesting without spoiling anything?)

 _(Also, the reviews for requests thing...I have an update for that on Scrapbook that's coming out soon, so I'll explain there. Just be aware that if you leave a review on this note and you're signed into your account, it won't let you post another review when I delete this and upload a new chapter, so I'm not sure I'll handle that when counting reviews unless you left one anonymously...Sorry about that. -.-)_


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